,   jKxz.       .nffK        -  -         "Wi^^P^retf  ,&m*         *J     ^Hfs» 


& 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


"Just  as  the  ball  was  going  over  his  head  straight  as  a  bullet,  he  put  up  his  right  hand 
and  caught  the  ball." 


WON  IN  THE  NINTH 


BY 

CHRISTOPHER  MATHEWSON 

THE    FAMOUS    PITCHER   OF  THE    NEW   YORK   GIANTS 


THE  FIRST  OF  A  SERIES 
OF  STORIES  FOR  BOYS  ON 
SPORTS  TO  BE  KNOWN  AS 

THE     MATTY    BOOKS 


EDITED    BY  W.  W.  AULICK 

THE    WELL-KNOWN    WRITER    ON    SPORTS 


ILLUSTRATIONS   BY 

FELIX    MAHONY 


NEW     YORK 

R.    J.    BODMER    COMPANY 

1910 


COPYRIGHT,  1910,  BY 
R.  J.    BODMER  COMPANY 


THE    NEW    YORK    BOOK    COMPANY,    SALES    AGENTS 
NEW    YORK,   N.   Y. 


DEDICATION 

To  the  memory  of  Henry  Chadwick,  "  The 
Father  of  Baseball,"  whose  life  was  centered 
in  the  sport,  and  who,  by  his  rugged  honesty 
and  his  relentless  opposition  to  everything 
that  savored  of  dishonesty  and  commercialism 
in  connection  with  the  game,  is  entitled  to  the 
credit,  more  than  any  other,  of  the  high  stand- 
ing and  unsullied  reputation  which  the  sport 
enjoys  to-day,  and  to  the  boys  who  love  the 
great  American  game  I  dedicate  this  book. 

C.  M. 


WON  IN  THE  NINTH 
CHAPTER    I 

THE   WINTER   TERM 

"  EYAH  !  EYAH  !  Hughie,  RAH-RAH."  A  wiry  red- 
haired  boy  about  twenty-three  years  old  swung  lightly 
from  the  train  with  a  big  valise  in  his  hand  into  a 
crowd  of  college  boys  in  caps  and  heavy  ulsters. 
They  gathered  round  him  at  once,  and  while  one 
crowd  took  charge  of  his  valise,  he  was  lifted  on  to 
the  shoulders  of  a  half  dozen  fellows  and  carried 
through  the  streets  to  his  rooms  in  Elihu  Dormitory. 
In  a  twinkling  his  rooms  and  the  halls  outside  were 
blocked  with  the  lads  of  Lowell  who  had  come  to 
welcome  the  most  popular  boy  in  school,  Hughie 
Jenkins. 

It  was  the  day  of  the  opening  of  the  winter  term 
of  the  University.  Hughie  Jenkins  had  been  the 
successful  manager  for  three  years  of  the  College 
Baseball  team  and  on  the  Thanksgiving  Day  pre- 
vious, Hughie  as  Captain  of  the  Football  Eleven, 
with  the  help  of  the  other  members  of  the  team,  had 
won  the  College  Championship  for  the  first  time  in 
five  years. 

The  boys  of  Lowell  University  had  never  been 

i 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

very  successful  in  football  against  their  old  rivals  at 
Jefferson,  and  the  fellows  were  so  chock-full  of  en- 
thusiasm over  it  that  they  had  not  yet  had  enough 
opportunity  to  satisfy  it.  As  each  of  the  members  of 
the  team  had  arrived  he  had  been  welcomed  in  much 
the  same  way,  but  the  great  welcome  was,  of  course, 


given  to  "  good  old  Hughie  "  as  they  called  him, 
and  now  that  he  was  with  them  again  it  was  possible, 
taking  the  boys'  view  of  it,  for  the  work  of  the  Uni- 
versity to  go  on. 

As  Captain  Larke  had  said,  "  Hughie  is  entitled  to 
all  the  credit  we  can  give  him.  He  has  been  a  wonder 
at  baseball  because  he  has  always  kept  the  boys  fight- 


THE   WINTER   TERM 

ing  hard  to  win,  no  matter  what  the  score  was,  and 
we  have  won  many  a  game  just  because  we  wanted  to 
do  our  best  for  him,  and  the  way  he  made  us  get  out 
and  win  in  the  last  few  minutes  of  the  big  football 
game  kind  of  shows  that  he  knows  how  to  put  them 


over." 


"  That's  right,"  said  Kirkpatrick,  who  was  right 
end  on  the  team,  "  if  good  old  Hughie  hadn't  put 
some  of  the  fight  back  in  us  when  that  old  score  was 

0  to  o  in  the  last  five  minutes  of  play,  and  then  him- 
self kicked  that  field  goal  from  Jefferson's  twenty- 
five-yard  line,  we  wouldn't  have  won." 

"  Well,"  said  Hughie,  "  this  is  fine  all  right,  boys. 
We  did  win,  didn't  we !  and  it's  very  kind  of  you  to 
try  to  give  me  all  the  credit,  but  if  it  hadn't  been  for 
the  other  ten  fellows  on  the  team,  I  guess  I  couldn't 
have  done  very  much,  and  anyway  it  took  eleven 
pretty  good  men  to  beat  that  team  from  Jefferson." 

Then,  turning  to  Johnny  Everson  he  said,  "  Gee, 

1  wish  the  snow  would  melt.    I'd  like  to  find  out  what 
kind  of  new  fellows  we  have  who  can  play  baseball." 

And  that  was  just  like  Hughie.  Here  it  was 
winter,  with  snow  on  the  ground,  and  a  month  or 
two  of  cold  weather  still  in  sight.  He  had  hardly 
got  rested  from  the  football  campaign,  and  now  he 
was  wishing  it  was  time  to  get  out  the  bats,  balls, 
and  masks! 

"  It  gets  me,"  said  Delvin  to  Gibbie  over  in  one 
corner,  "  how  that  old  boy  hustles  and  is  thinking 
about  all  kinds  of  things  all  the  time,  but  I  guess 
that's  the  way  to  win  out." 

3 


WON   IN   THE   NINTH 

"  In  time  of  peace  prepare  for  war,"  said  Hughie. 
"  Now  I  am  wondering  right  now  whom  we  are 
going  to  get  to  take  the  place  of  old  boy  Penny  on 
first  (Fred  Penny  had  been  the  sensation  of  the 
college  world  at  the  first  bag),  and  who  will  take 
Johnny  King's  place  as  catcher  and  will  he  be  able 
to  work  that  delayed  throw  trick  with  Johnny  Ever- 
son  and  the  shortstop  ?  And  by  the  way,  who  is  going 
to  take  Joe  Brinker's  place  at  short,  besides  the  cou- 
ple of  other  places  that  are  vacant? 

"  Boys,"  continued  Hughie,  "  this  is  going  to  be  my 
last  year  at  school  here.  You  fellows  have  helped 
me  win  the  championship  before.  It's  all  right  about 
the  football  business,  but  this  last  year  with  you, 
we've  simply  got  to  have  another  winning  nine. 
Let's  give  a  good  old  cheer  for  the  football  boys,  and 
then  let's  give  another  for  the  grand  old  game  of 
ball,  and  then  you  go  and  tell  all  the  fellows  who 
can  play  ball  that  I  want  to  see  them  in  the  cage 
next  week,  and  tell  all  of  them  that  think  they  can 
play  ball  to  come,  too.  Sometimes  some  of  these 
chaps  who  think  they  can't  do  it  turn  out  the  best 
of  all." 

And  that  evening  when  the  boys  got  talking  by 
themselves  they  forgot  all  about  football,  and  the 
fellows  who  had  been  to  school  last  year  had  to  tell 
all  over  again  about  the  wonderful  stunts  that  Lowell 
boys  had  pulled  off  in  the  past,  just  as  if  most  of 
them  hadn't  heard  them  all  before. 

"  Say,  Johnny,"  said  Fred  Larke,  a  Junior  from 
Kansas  and  Captain  of  the  Baseball  Nine,  to  Johnny 


THE   WINTER   TERM 

Everson,  "  I  was  trying  to  tell  Robb  here  (Robb 
was  from  Georgia)  how  Johnny  King  and  you  and 
Joe  Brinker  figured  out  that  delayed-throw-to-second 
trick  that  won  that  game  from  Princeville  last  year." 

"  Well,"  said  Johnny,  "  it  didn't  really  win  the 
game,  you  know,  because  we  were  ahead  then,  but 
it  kept  the  other  fellows  from  winning.  You  see, 
some  one  said  to  us  in  the  visitors'  dressing  room  of 
Bailey  Oval  that  Walker  of  the  Princeville  team  was 
a  slow  thinker.  '  I  have  a  new  trick  for  fellows  that 
can't  think  quick,'  said  King,  the  catcher,  and  he  ex- 
plained it  to  us  so  we  would  be  on  the  job  if  the 
chance  came.  Sure  enough  it  did. 

"  In  the  last  half  of  the  ninth  inning  of  the  game 
with  Princeville  College,  the  Lowell  boys  were  one 
run  to  the  good.  Princeville  College  was  at  bat,  of 
course. 

"  Walker,  the  first  man  up,  had  gotten  to  first  on 
a  nit  and  reached  second  on  a  sacrifice  and  he  was 
the  lad  they  said  didn't  think  quick.  This  was  just 
the  thing  we  figured  might  happen.  King  had  said, 
'  If  that  fellow  gets  on  second,  I  can  pull  off  this 
new  trick,  which  I  call  the  delayed  throw.  Let  Joe 
cover  the  bag  and  Johnny  stall.'  On  the  first  ball 
pitched,  this  Walker  took  a  big  lead  off  second,  and 
Brinker  covered  the  bag,  King  motioned  quick  as 
if  to  throw,  and  I  stood  still.  Walker  first  started 
back  toward  second,  but  when  he  saw  that  King 
didn't  throw  he  slowed  down.  Brinker,  walking 
back  to  his  place  at  short,  said  to  Walker,  '  We'd 
have  got  you  that  time,  old  boy,  if  King  had  thrown 

5 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

the  ball.'  For  just  one  fatal  moment  Walker 
turned  around  to  answer  Brinker's  remark  and  in 
that  instant  King  threw  the  ball  to  me  as  I  hustled 
for  the  bag.  Of  course,  I  caught  it  and  jabbed  it 
against  the  runner  and  before  he  knew  how  it  was 
done,  he  was  out. 

"  Of  course  you  couldn't  work  that  on  a  real  live 
player,  but  we  won  the  game  on  that  play  because 
the  next  batter  drove  out  a  long  single  on  which 
Walker  could  have  scored.  Looking  at  it  one  way, 
it  was  won  in  the  dressing  room  because  that's 
where  we  fixed  up  the  scheme." 

"  It  pays  to  keep  thinking  about  the  game  all  the 
time,  doesn't  it?  "  commented  Larke. 

That  brought  up  the  other  story  of  another  game 
with  Biltmore  University  a  couple  of  years  before 
which  Lowell  lost,  and  Everson  had  to  tell  that,  too. 

"  I  wasn't  there,"  said  Everson,  "  because  it  was 
two  years  ago,  which  was  before  my  time,  and  there 
was  a  whole  lot  of  luck  about  it,  too,  but  it  was  this 
way.  There  were  three  on  bases  and  Merry,  our 
mighty  slugger,  at  bat  with  two  out.  Score  was  3 
to  o  against  us  and  it  was  our  last  half  of  the  ninth, 
too ;  Merry  hit  the  first  ball  pitched  for  a  homer  over 
the  right  field  fence,  and  four  runs  would  have 
scored,  only  for  little  Willie  Keefer,  right  fielder 
for  Biltmore,  who  was  playing  well  out  toward  the 
fence. 

"  The  grounds  were  down  by  the  railroad  and 
right  field  was  down  hill  and  rough.  Inside,  the  fence 
sloped  at  an  angle  of  65  degrees,  being  straight  on 

6 


THE    WINTER    TERM 

the  outside  and  covered  with  signs.  Willie  started 
with  the  crack  of  the  bat,  leaped  upon  the  slope  of 
the  fence  and  started  to  run  along  it,  going  higher 
and  higher  and  just  as  the  ball  was  going  over  his 
head,  straight  as  a  bullet,  he  put  up  his  right  hand, 
and  caught  the  ball  fairly;  then  Willie  went  over 
the  fence  with  the  ball  in  his  mitt,  rolling  over  in 
the  dirt. 

'  Willie  climbed  back  over  the  fence,  and  the  runs 
didn't  count  because  while  the  umpire  couldn't  see 
it  plainly,  our  fellows  in  the  right  bleachers  could 
see  Willie  all  the  time  and  they  were,  of  course, 
square  enough  to  say  that  the  ball  was  fairly  caught, 
even  if  it  did  lose  the  game  for  us." 

And  so  they  talked  and  talked  until  long  after 
time  to  be  in  bed,  and  told  all  the  stories  about  the 
great  Lowell  clubs  of  the  past,  the  great  pitchers, 
the  catchers  and  the  fielders;  and  the  fellows  called 
it  the  first  meeting  of  the  Hot  Stove  League  of 
Lowell  University  19 — .  This  talking  League 
lasted  through  part  of  February,  by  which  time  the 
freshies  who  had  done  wonders  on  the  high-school 
teams  at  home,  and  who  had  come  to  Lowell  with 
high  hopes  of  making  the  team,  had  a  pretty  good 
idea  of  the  kind  of  enthusiasm  and  loyalty  and, 
most  important,  the  hard  work  they  would  have  to 
show  to  get  on  the  team  at  Lowell. 

The  night  of  Hughie  Jenkins'  return  a  boyish- 
looking  chap,  who  had  come  all  the  way  from  Cali- 
fornia to  Lowell  University,  only  five  months  be- 
fore, wrote  a  long  letter  to  his  folks  back  home,  and 

7 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

among  other  things  he  said  the  boys  had  begun  to 
talk  baseball,  and  he  was  going  to  try  to  be  on  the 
team  and  also  that  he  was  going  to  try  for  the  posi- 
tion of  pitcher.  Further,  that  he  was  going  to  try 
for  one  of  the  Jerry  Harriman  Prizes.  His  name 
was  Case. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE  LOWELL   SPIRIT 

LOWELL  UNIVERSITY  wasn't  one  of  those  little 
colleges  about  which  books  for  boys  are  often  written, 
nor  was  it  just  a  big  college.  It  was  the  greatest 
University  in  the  East.  It  had  thousands  of  stu- 
dents and  hundreds  of  teachers.  It  was  a  rich  college 
with  dozens  of  buildings.  A  great  many  hundreds 
of  the  boys  who  had  been  graduated  from  it,  poor 
boys  and  rich  boys  and  medium- fortuned  boys,  now 
held  high  positions  in  the  big  world  outside. 

Two  of  the  boys  who  had  attended  school  there 
years  before  and  who  had  played  on  its  athletic  teams 
had  become  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  and 
every  year  while  these  men  were  in  the  White  House 
they  came  to  attend  the  big  football  and  baseball 
games,  and  acted  just  like  boys  again,  while  the 
games  were  going  on  at  least.  Other  boys  had  been 
made  members  of  the  Cabinet  and  a  great  many  had 
become  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress 
while  still  others  had  become  famous  ministers,  doc- 
tors and  merchants. 

The  students  were  made  up  of  sons  of  rich  fam- 
ilies and  poor  alike.  Boys  from  the  farms  and  from 
the  city.  Of  those  who  were  lucky  in  having  rich 

9 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

fathers,  there  were  quite  a  number  at  school  every 
year.  Some  of  them  had  finely  furnished  rooms, 
servants,  automobiles  and  other  things  which  a  rich 
man's  son  generally  has,  and  it  must  be  said  that  a 
great  many,  in  fact,  most  of  these  boys  developed 
into  men  of  fine  character  and  ability,  and  made  their 
marks  in  the  world. 

A  few  thought  they  were  better  than  those  who 
didn't  have  so  much  spending  money,  but  they  didn't 
get  very  far  or  do  so  much  in  the  world,  either  in 
school  or  after  they  got  out. 

The  spirit  of  Lowell  was  democratic,  and  with 
the  exception  of  these  foolish  fellows,  the  sons  of  the 
rich  associated  with  the  poor  fellows,  particularly 
where  the  honor  and  fame  of  the  school  were  at  stake. 

The  poor  fellows  associated  with  the  rich  boys 
whenever  they  got  a  chance.  They  lived  in  cheaper 
rooms  and  worked  a  little  harder,  because  the  bright 
boys  soon  figured  out  that  they  would  have  to  hustle 
to  keep  up  with  the  rich  fellows. 

Some  of  them  worked  during  the  vacations  and 
earned  enough  money  to  keep  them  at  school  during 
the  winter  just  as  they  do  at  other  colleges,  and  some 
of  them  looked  after  furnaces  around  town,  or  waited 
on  tables  at  the  boarding  houses  and  did  other  things 
to  assure  their  schooling.  Fully  as  many  of  the  poor 
fellows  who  had  been  graduated  had  become  rich 
and  famous  in  life,  and  one  of  the  two  who  had  be- 
come President  of  the  United  States  was  a  poor 
farmer's  boy. 

The  Faculty  of  the  University  wanted  the  students 

10 


THE    LOWELL    SPIRIT 

to  mix  with  each  other  and  didn't  want  any  difference 
to  be  shown  between  rich  boys  and  poor,  so  they  en- 
couraged all  athletic  games,  and  this  brought  about 
exactly  what  they  wanted.  There  is  nothing  like 
athletics  to  put  boys  on  a  common  ground,  and  a 
fellow  was  always  welcome  to  show  what  he  could  do. 

They  had  a  fine  athletic  association.  The  equip- 
ment was  the  best  that  money  could  buy.  The  best 
coaches  in  the  world  were  secured  to  train  the  boys  in 
the  different  sports,  and  everything  was  done  in  a 
business-like  way.  This  made  it  possible  to  select 
the  teams  on  merit  alone. 

Any  fellow  who  thought  he  could  do  something 
in  the  line  of  college  sports  had  only  to  report  for  a 
trial  at  the  proper  time,  and  at  the  place  called  for 
in  the  notice,  and  he  was  given  a  chance  to  show 
what  he  could  do.  The  merit  system  picked  him  out 
and  in  that  way  the  best  possible  team  was  secured. 
If  he  had  done  one  thing  better  than  some  other  fel- 
low, he  got  the  job,  and  he  could  keep  it  until  some 
other  fellow  who  could  do  it  better  turned  up  and 
pushed  him  out  of  the  position. 

If  a  fellow  thought  he  could  pitch  he  was  given 
a  chance  to  show  what  he  could  do  before  the  coach 
who  was  engaged  especially  to  try  out  the  pitchers. 
If  the  coaches  thought  he  "  had  it  in  him,"  they  would 
bring  it  out.  Very  often,  some  young  fellow  showed 
up  who  proved  to  be  a  wonder,  and  he  got  on  the 
Varsity  the  first  year. 

This  spirit  attracted  from  all  over  the  country 
boys  who  wanted  to  enter  college.  It  made  college 

ii 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

life  very  attractive  and  more  students  came  every 
year,  and  somehow  Lowell  University  got  more  and 
more  in  the  habit  of  having  winning  teams  in  most 
college  sports.  Likewise,  it  was  usually  Lowell 
boys  who  carried  off  the  lion's  share  of  the  Jerry  Har- 
riman  Scholarships  in  baseball. 

In  baseball,  Lowell  had  most  always  been  the 
champion.  Her  basketball  and  hockey  teams  were 
only  beaten  when  outlucked;  her  crew  was  beaten 
but  twice  in  twenty  years.  Only  in  football  did  she 
seem  to  fall  behind.  Year  after  year  she  would 
get  a  team  together  that  would  win  its  way  through 
the  games  with  the  other  schools  in  the  East,  hardly 
ever  scored  against,  only  to  fall  before  her  old  time 
rival  college  in  the  West  in  the  final  game  of  the 
year.  This  happened  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  all  of 
the  cunning  and  ability  of  her  coaches,  captains  and 
managers  were  used  to  get  a  team  together  that  could 
beat  Jefferson  College. 

But  this  past  fall  they  had  finally  turned  the  trick 
against  Jefferson  and  won  for  the  first  time  in  five 
years.  Half-back  last  year  and  Captain  and  Half- 
back this  year,  good  old  Hughie  Jenkins  who  had 
won  the  baseball  Championship  three  times,  had 
done  it,  and  now  he  was  back  after  the  Christmas 
vacation,  and  when  he  had  time  to  think  about  some- 
thing besides  his  studies  he  would  be  thinking  about 
baseball  and  the  gaps  in  last  year's  winner  that  would 
have  to  be  filled  because  the  old  standbys  like  Fred 
Penny,  Johnny  King,  Joe  Brinker  and  others  had 
been  graduated. 

12 


THE   LOWELL   SPIRIT 

"  Well,"  said  Hughie  one  evening  about  the 
middle  of  January,  to  his  roommate  and  chum, 
Johnny  Everson,  "  I  have  about  five  weeks  before 
the  1 5th  of  February  to  dream  that  the  new  fellows 
who  think  they  can  play  ball  are  going  to  be  as  good 
as  the  old  boys  and  I  am  going  to  have  another  win- 
ner this  year,  if — well,  we  just  have  to  win  the  Cham- 
pionship this  year,  that's  all." 

Little  did  he  know  that  among  those  who  had 
seen  him  on  the  day  he  got  back  after  the  holidays, 
were  almost  a  half  dozen  boys  who  had  been  in 
school  only  five  months  who  would  make  the  Varsity 
this  year,  and  whose  names  would  be  written  very 
near  the  top  of  the  Roll  of  Honor  in  Lowell's  Hall 
of  Fame,  and  that  another  fellow,  one  who  was  des- 
tined to  be  greater  than  all  the  rest,  had  not  yet 
arrived. 


CHAPTER    III 

GETTING  ACQUAINTED 

HAROLD  CASE  mounted  the  stairs  of  his  boarding 
house  to  the  little  hall  room  that  he  had  called  home 
for  the  last  five  months.  It  had  been  his  first  time 
away  from  home  and  he  was  lonesome  and  maybe 
just  a  little  homesick,  for  he  had  come  all  the  way 
from  California  to  attend  school  at  Lowell.  Though 
he  was  a  poor  boy,  he  had  never  had  to  look  out  for 
himself  before. 

Perhaps  his  room — there  was  only  one  small  one 
— helped  to  make  him  lonesome.  It  was  comfort- 
ably furnished  and  the  meals  which  Mrs.  Malcolm 
served  her  student  boarder  were  good,  but  this  was 
Harold's  first  white  winter.  He  had  lived  all  of 
his  eighteen  years  in  the  balmy  climate  of  the  Golden 
State,  and  he  missed  the  warm  sun  and  the  bright 
green  of  the  orange  leaves  and  the  yellow  fruit  which 
he  had  been  used  to  back  home,  and  he  hadn't  be- 
come accustomed  to  wearing  overcoat  and  rubbers 
yet  as  they  did  every  day  here  in  the  East. 

He  had  just  come  in  from  class.  His  feet  were 
wet  and  he  was  cold  and  the  register  which  was 
supposed  to  heat  his  room  was  cold ;  for  the  weather 
was  beginning  to  get  mild  for  Eastern  folks,  and  they 


GETTING    ACQUAINTED 

had  let  the  furnace  fire  get  low.  But  it  was  still  too 
cold  and  chilly  for  this  boy  from  the  far  West,  and 
he  was  wishing  he  were  back  among  the  fruit  groves 
near  his  home. 

He   was   lonesome,    too,    because   he   missed   the 
chums  back  home.     He  had  not  been  fortunate  in 


making  friends  during  his  few  months  at  college. 
Boys  are  apt  to  make  friends  through  the  games  they 
play  together  and  Harold  was  not  familiar  with  the 
boys'  sports  that  are  indulged  in  during  the  cold  New 
England  winters. 

He  had  never  had  a  pair  of  skates  on  in  his  life 
and  didn't  know  what  it  was  to  skim  over  the  smooth 
ice  with  a  pair  of  sharp  steel  blades  fastened  to  his 

15 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

shoes.  He  had  never  enjoyed  the  sensation  of  coast- 
ing or  hitching  on  to  bob-sleds,  nor  had  he  ever  seen 
snow  before  coming  to  Lowell. 

Think  of  living  eighteen  years,  and  going  to  school 
two-thirds  that  long,  and  never  being  mixed  up  in  a 
snowball  fight ! 

So  you  see  the  fact  that  it  was  winter  and  only 
winter  sports  were  indulged  in  put  Harold  out  of  it 
for  the  time  being,  and  because  he  wasn't  used  to  the 
climate,  and  didn't  know  what  fun  winter  sports 
would  provide,  he  rather  felt  that  he  didn't  care  for 
them,  and  the  other  fellows  paid  little  attention  to 
him,  and  he  had  not  made  any  friends. 

This  was  hard  luck  of  course,  and  if  the  other  boys 
had  thought  about  it  at  all,  they  would  no  doubt  have 
encouraged  him  to  join  them,  but  they  were  not  par- 
ticularly interested  at  the  moment  in  anyone  who 
didn't  like  the  things  they  liked. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Harold,  as  they  called  him 
back  home,  was  a  really  good  fellow.  He  was  very 
boyish  looking  for  his  eighteen  years.  He  was  a 
well  built  fellow,  but  modest  and  somewhat  back- 
ward about  pushing  himself  forward.  His  hair  was 
brown  and  his  features  were  good  although  no  one 
would  call  him  handsome.  His  eyes  were  light  blue 
and  clear,  his  mouth  was  firm,  and  if  the  other  fellows 
only  knew  it,  he  was  as  quick  as  a  flash  in  any  game 
he  was  familiar  with,  and  he  was  as  graceful  as  a 
deer  in  motion.  He  could  run  almost  as  fast  as 
a  deer,  too. 

His  parents  were  not  in  easy  circumstances  and  it 
16 


GETTING   ACQUAINTED 

was  harder  than  Harold  knew  for  Mr.  Case  to  spare 
the  money  which  he  did  to  send  him  to  Lowell. 
Harold  would  perhaps  have  been  just  as  well  pleased 
to  attend  a  college  in  California  (just  now  when  he 
thought  of  the  cold  Eastern  winter  he  wished  to 
goodness  that  he  had),  but  his  father  had  been  a 
Lowell  man,  having  been  graduated  with  the  class 
of  1 8 — ,  and  while  it  was  a  little  hard  on  him  finan- 
cially to  do  so,  he  had  always  wanted  Harold  to  be 
a  Lowell  man,  and  he  was  willing  to  work  a  little 
more  out  there  in  California  to  do  what  he  wanted 
for  his  son.  He  felt  sure  Harold  would  make  his 
mark  in  the  world  and  he  also  had  an  idea  that  his 
boy  would  add  something  to  the  fame  of  Lowell  one 
way  or  the  other. 

At  the  same  time  the  understanding  was  that  after 
he  got  out  of  school  and  began  to  earn  money,  Har- 
old was  to  pay  back  this  college  money,  and  so  while 
there  was  enough  to  be  fairly  comfortable  for  his 
first  year,  the  young  fellow  always  kept  in  mind  the 
fact  that  he  was  in  a  way  living  on  borrowed  money, 
and  that  the  less  he  spent  the  smaller  the  amount 
would  be  to  be  paid  back. 

For  this  reason,  he  had  secured  a  room  in  a  some- 
what cheaper  and  quieter  part  of  town,  some  dis- 
tance away  from  the  campus,  instead  of  taking  up  his 
quarters  in  one  of  the  Student's  Halls,  and  this  fact 
also,  and  because  he  was  in  a  house  with  no  other 
students,  served  to  keep  him  from  making  friends  as 
easily  as  he  might.  If  he  had  been  living  where 
there  were  a  lot  of  other  fellows  he  would  not  have 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

been  so  lonesome,   and  the  boys  at  Lowell  would 
have  known  sooner  what  a  grand  fellow  he  was. 

Harold  looked  at  his  watch  to  see  how  long  it 
would  be  to  dinner  time,  for  he  had  a  good  appetite 
even  if  he  was  cold,  and  just  then  the  dinner  gong 
sounded.  He  went  down  to  the  dining  room  where 
he  found  Mrs.  Malcolm  and  her  young  son,  a  lad 
of  twelve,  already  seated  at  table.  The  dinner  was 
good,  and  Harold  noticed  a  more  cheerful  air  in 
Mrs.  Malcolm's  conversation.  This  was  rather  a 
surprise  as  there  had  been  a  noticeable  lack  of  laugh- 
ter in  the  house  lately,  at  least  so  he  had  been  thinking. 

Mrs.  Malcolm  was  a  widow  and  had  come  to  the 
college  town,  thinking  she  could  add  something  to 
the  small  income  left  her  by  her  husband  by  estab- 
lishing herself  in  the  boarding-house  business.  She 
had  three  other  rooms  to  rent,  but  up  to  this  time 
Harold  had  been  the  only  boarder  she  was  lucky 
enough  to  get,  and  lately  she  had  been  a  little  bit 
discouraged.  With  a  larger  house  than  she  needed 
for  herself  and  son  and  only  one  boarder,  the  in- 
creased expense  was  more  than  Harold  was  paying 
her,  so  she  was  losing  money  on  her  idea. 

This  evening,  however,  she  was  more  cheerful, 
and  she  soon  gave  the  reason.  She  had  secured 
two  other  students  as  boarders  that  day.  One  was 
to  come  that  evening,  and  had  taken  the  room  next  to 
Harold's  on  the  same  floor,  and  the  other  had  taken 
the  little  room  over  his  on  the  third  floor,  but  this 
fellow  only  rented  the  room  with  the  privilege  of 
taking  his  meals  where  he  pleased. 

18 


GETTING   ACQUAINTED 

"  The  young  man  who  is  coming  to-night  is  a 
freshman  like  yourself/'  said  Mrs.  Malcolm.  "  His 
home  is  in  Texas ;  I  think  you  will  like  him  and  it  will 
be  real  nice  for  you  to  have  some  one  else  in  the 
house.  His  name  is  Hagner." 

When  dinner  was  over  Harold  went  up  to  his 
room  to  do  some  studying. 

"  I  feel  as  though  I  could  be  chums  with  a  Mexi- 
can greaser  to-night,"  thought  Harold,  "  and  I  cer- 
tainly will  be  glad  to  meet  him." 

Shortly  afterward  the  door  bell  rang  and  Harold 
heard  an  expressman  bringing  a  trunk  up  the  stairs, 
followed  by  the  footsteps  of  a  young  man  and  also 
a  lighter  step,  no  doubt  that  of  Mrs.  Malcolm. 
After  a  few  moments  there  was  a  knock  at  his  door, 
and  when  he  opened  it  Mrs.  Malcolm  asked  him  if 
she  might  introduce  him  to  the  new  boarder, 
Mr.  Hagner. 

Harold  found  a  big,  raw-boned,  awkward-looking 
German,  a  young  fellow  about  six  feet  tall,  weighing 
fully  175  pounds.  He  was  heavy  set,  bow-legged, 
and  had  massive  shoulders  and  long  arms,  but  when 
he  moved  around  there  was  a  wonderful  ease  and 
grace  apparent  in  his  movements,  which  was  a  sur- 
prise. 

Mrs.  Malcolm  soon  went  out  and  left  the  two 
together  in  Hagner's  room.  Harold  started  to  leave, 
too,  saying  that  he  would  come  in  after  Hagner 
had  unpacked. 

"  Don't  need  to  go  for  that  reason,"  said  Hagner, 
as  he  opened  his  trunk,  ready  to  unpack. 

19 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

"  All  right,  if  you  don't  mind,"  said  Harold. 
"  I'm  kind  of  lonesome  to-night,  anyhow." 

"What's  the  matter?"  asked  the  other,  "any- 
thing gone  wrong?  " 

"  No,"  said  Harold,  "  but  you  see  I'm  from  Cali- 
fornia and  I  don't  like  this  blamed  snow  and  cold. 
I'd  rather  be  back  where  it's  warm  every  day  like 
I'm  used  to." 

"How  long  have  you  been  here?"  asked  Hag- 
ner.  "  This  must  be  your  first  year,  too?  " 

"  It  is.  I've  been  here  five  months  and  it's  been 
mighty  cold  for  three  months  of  that  time.  When 
did  you  come  ?  " 

"  I  just  got  in  yesterday,"  said  Hagner,  starting 
to  unpack.  "  Never  saw  snow  before  in  my  life. 
I  am  from  Texas  myself  and  we  don't  have  it  down 
there  either.  It's  wet,  ain't  it  ?  Don't  like  it  much 
myself.  Guess  I'll  have  to  stand  it,  though.  Don't 
expect  to  see  Texas  again  for  a  couple  of  years, 
anyhow." 

Harold  began  to  feel  more  cheerful.  Here  was 
a  fellow  to  whom  he  could  tell  about  college.  Com- 
pared with  Hagner,  Harold  was  an  old  timer,  and  he 
began  to  feel  good.  Hagner  kept  on  taking  things 
out  of  his  trunk.  He  was  having  a  hard  time,  get- 
ting something  out  that  seemed  to  be  laid  in  cross- 
wise between  the  clothes.  Harold  looked,  and  just 
then  out  it  came,  and  there  stood  Hagner  with  an 
old  baseball  bat  in  his  hand.  He  reached  in  with 
his  left  and  pulled  out  an  old  fielder's  mitt,  which  had 
a  big  hole  right  through  the  middle. 

20 


'Just  then  out  it  came  and  there  stood  Hagner  with  an  old  baseball  bat  in  his  hand. 


GETTING    ACQUAINTED 

Harold's  eyes  bulged.  "  Do  you  play  ball?" 
he  asked. 

"  A  little,"  said  the  other;  "used  to  play  around 
the  back  lots  down  home.  Had  to  play  hookey  from 
Sunday  school  to  get  a  chance.  Had  to  work  week 
days  after  school.  You  play?" 

"  Some,"  said  Harold. 

"What  position?" 

"  Pitcher,"  said  Harold,  falling  into  the  other's 
way  of  talking.  "What's  your  place?" 

"  Short,"  said  Hagner. 

"  Going  to  try  for  the  team?  "  asked  Harold. 

"  Will  if  they  want  me.     You  ?  " 

"  I'm  going  to  make  them  want  me.  The  best 
pitcher  they  had  last  year  is  gone  and  they  need 


some  one." 


"  Better  try  for  something  else.  Everybody  thinks 
he  can  pitch.  Only  a  few  know  how." 

"  Well,  I'm  a  Southpaw  pitcher,  and  I  was  pretty 
good  on  the  High  School  team  out  home.  South- 
paws are  scarce." 

"  Left  handed,  eh !  You  look  quick,  too.  Think 
you  might  make  a  first  baseman." 

"  I'd  rather  pitch,"  said  Harold. 

"  All  right,  sir,"  said  Hagner.  "  You  can  pitch 
if  you  want  to  and  if  they  want  you,  but  if  they 
give  me  a  chance  any  place,  I  think  I  can  stop 
them  all  right,  and  if  I  miss  one  occasionally,  I 
think  I  can  hold  the  job  with  my  bat.  What's 
your  first  name?  Mine's  John,  but  you  can  call  me 
Hagner." 

21 


WON    IN   THE   NINTH 

"  My  first  name  is  Harold,  but  you  had  better 
call  me  by  my  last  name,  too." 

And  so  they  talked  baseball  until  long  after  mid- 
night, and  their  enthusiasm  for  the  great  American 
game  made  them  friends  at  once,  and  Harold  went 
to  bed  feeling  that  the  world  was  bright  and  warm 
and  that  spring  would  be  coming  pretty  soon,  and  he 
made  up  his  mind  right  there  not  to  get  homesick 
any  more,  but  to  dig  more  into  his  studies  so  that 
his  marks  wouldn't  interfere  with  the  amount  of  time 
he  wanted  to  give  to  baseball  when  practice  started. 


22 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE    JERRY    HARRIMAN    SCHOLARSHIP    PRIZES 

WHEN  Lowell  University  won  the  college  baseball 
Championship  in  1876  the  victory  was  to  a  large  ex- 
tent due  to  the  wonderful  all-round  work  of  Jerry 
Harriman.  As  a  pitcher  he  had  never  up  to  that 
time  had  an  equal,  and  he  could  play  almost  any 
other  position  on  the  team  well.  In  those  days  a 
club  would  have  only  one  pitcher  and  he  was  ex- 
pected to  pitch  almost  every  game  of  the  season, 
which  often  meant  pitching  every  day  in  the  week 
but  Sunday.  When  not  pitching  he  played  an  out- 
field position. 

This  is  a  whole  lot  different  than  the  way  the  game 
is  conducted  in  the  colleges  to-day.  In  these  days  a 
nine  will  sometimes  have  half  a  dozen  pitchers  and 
they  don't  do  anything  but  pitch  and  then  only  in  their 
regular  turns.  Besides  being  a  great  pitcher  Jerry 
was  also  a  great  batter.  This  was  also  unusual  be- 
cause very  seldom  do  you  find  a  good  pitcher  who 
can  bat,  but  Jerry  could  both  pitch  and  bat  and  he 
made  a  great  name  for  himself  as  a  college  athlete. 

After  he  had  been  graduated  he  went  into  business 
in  a  city  in  the  Middle  West,  and  became  very 
wealthy. 

23 


WON    IN    THE   NINTH 

As  a  young  lad  he  had  been  weak  physically  and 
his  heart  was  said  to  be  affected.  In  fact,  he  was  not 
expected  to  live  to  grow  up.  When  he  was  thirteen 
years  old  the  doctors  said  he  couldn't  live  a  year. 
There  came  to  his  home  town,  however,  about  this 
time,  a  young  man  who  opened  a  school  of  Physical 
Culture.  He  had  a  wonderfully  well  developed 
body,  was  a  great  enthusiast  on  athletics,  and  he  made 
a  great  effort  to  get  the  young  boys  around  town  who 
were  weak  physically  to  come  to  him. 

He  made  his  living  by  forming  gymnasium 
classes  among  the  business  men  of  the  town  and  by 
his  work  with  them  got  many  a  staid  old  business 
man,  who  was  constantly  confined  to  his  office,  into 
the  habit  of  taking  exercise  regularly,  and  he  made 
many  a  man  who  had  become  fat  and  sick  through 
lack  of  exercise  strong  again  physically. 

But  he  had  a  particular  interest  in  the  boys  and  he 
was  especially  fond  of  getting  up  classes  for  poor 
young  fellows  who  were,  as  said  before,  undeveloped 
and  weak.  He  taught  these  youngsters  for  nothing 
what  he  knew  about  the  fine  results  of  taking  exercise 
regularly,  and  many  a  poor  fellow  who  would  have 
died  young,  he  developed  into  a  strong  and  healthy 
young  man  who  lived  long  and  became  prominent 
in  business  and  politics. 

Among  the  young  fellows  who  came  to  the  atten- 
tion of  this  Professor  Mitchell  was  young  Harriman, 
who  by  this  time,  however,  was  so  weak  that  he 
couldn't  join  any  of  the  classes.  In  fact,  Jerry 
couldn't  walk  across  the  room  without  holding  on  to  a 

24 


HARRIMAN    SCHOLARSHIP   PRIZES 

chair  or  something,  and  even  the  Professor  had  some 
doubts  as  to  his  ability  to  do  anything  for  him. 

However,  the  case  interested  him  and  he  came 
every  day  to  the  house  for  some  weeks  and  had  Jerry 
do  such  exercises  as  he  could.  At  first  there  was 
no  improvement  that  could  be  noticed,  but  after  a 
couple  of  months  of  the  most  careful  and  lightest 
exercise  possible,  a  very  decided  improvement  began 
to  be  noticed.  Very  soon,  by  carefully  doing  exactly 
as  the  Professor  told  him,  Jerry  began  to  get  stronger, 
until  by  the  end  of  the  first  year  all  trace  of  his  heart 
trouble  had  disappeared  and  the  Professor  told  him 
that  if  he  would  only  make  it  his  business  to  take  his 
exercises  every  day  he  would  some  day  be  as  strong 
as  any  boy. 

It  is  not  the  idea  of  this  chapter  to  go  into  all  the 
details  of  how  Harriman  became  a  strong  young 
man.  It  is  only  fair  to  say,  however,  that  to  him 
his  regular  and  systematic  exercise  became  as  impor- 
tant as  his  meals  or  washing  his  face,  night  and  morn- 
ing. When  he  saw  how  exercise  was  improving  him 
physically  he  became  almost  a  crank  on  the  subject. 

At  any  rate,  he  made  a  resolution  that  some  day 
he  would  be  just  as  well  developed  physically  as  any 
athlete  in  the  world,  and  he  kept  this  idea  foremost 
in  his  thoughts,  because  he  could  see  that  if  he  had 
a  perfect  physical  development,  his  mental  capacity 
would  increase  in  proportion.  In  the  end  he  became 
a  wonderfully  well  developed  lad  and  was  a  living 
example  of  what  exercise  will  do  for  a  boy,  or  man 
either,  for  that  matter. 

25 


WON   IN   THE   NINTH 

During  this  time  he  went  to  school,  and  soon  was 
able  to  join  the  games  of  the  other  boys.  In  the 
High  School  and  in  the  Preparatory  College  he  went 
in  for  athletics,  and  by  the  time  he  entered  Lowell, 
even  he  laughed  when  anybody  recalled  the  fact  that 
severT\)r  eight  years  before  the  doctors  had  given 
him  up  to  an  early  death  from  heart  trouble. 

It  has  been  necessary  to  give  this  much  of  the  de- 
tails of  this  part  of  his  life  in  order  to  show  what 
it  meant  to  Harriman  to  become  the  greatest  pitcher 
who  had  ever  been  in  the  box  for  any  college  in  the 
country,  and  also  to  give  the  boys  who  read  this 
good  reason  for  his  great  interest  in  college  athletics, 
after  he  had  gone  into  business  and  become  wealthy, 
as  shown  by  the  scholarship  prizes  which  he  gave 
each  year  to  the  best  athletes  in  the  various  colleges 
of  the  country. 

A  Jerry  Harriman  Scholarship  meant  free  tuition 
and  Five  Hundred  Dollars  per  year  for  living  ex- 
penses at  any  college  in  the  country  selected  by  the 
winner,  for  the  complete  college  course.  Mr.  Harri- 
man was  liberal  in  the  number  of  scholarship  prizes 
offered.  Several  young  fellows,  generally  poor  boys, 
were  presented  each  year  with  a  complete  college  edu- 
cation. There  was  a  scholarship  for  the  best  all- 
round  football  player,  for  basketball,  for  hockey  and 
each  of  the  track  and  field  events. 

The  scholarships  were  awarded  by  the  Intercol- 
legiate Athletic  Association,  and  were  given  without 
restriction  to  the  one  chosen  by  the  Association,  ex- 
cept that  a  nominee's  college  had  to  submit  to  Mr. 

26 


HARRIMAN    SCHOLARSHIP   PRIZES 

Harriman  a  record  of  the  prize  winner's  standing  in 
his  studies.  In  this  particular  a  good  average  stand- 
ing was  required.  It  was  the  argument  of  Mr.  Har- 
riman that  the  pursuit  of  athletics  in  college  need  not 
interfere  with  a  fellow's  studies  and  that  if  you  give 
a  boy  a  well  developed  body  his  brain  will  get  the 
benefit  of  it,  and  with  an  average  record  as  a  student, 
any  boy  might  be  expected  to  make  his  way  in  the 
world. 

Now  baseball  was  the  game  which  Jerry  Harri- 
man liked  above  all  others.  He  liked  best  to  see  it 
played  and  to  play  it  himself,  and  so  when  he  came 
to  make  up  his  list  of  scholarship  prizes  he  gave  the 
baseball  fellows  the  best  of  it.  He  was  then  and 
still  is  a  real  "  fan."  He  loved  to  see  new  stars 
developed  on  the  diamond. 

He  thought  it  was  the  best  and  squarest  game  in 
the  world  and  he  wanted  his  boys,  as  he  called  all 
college  boys,  to  love  and  play  the  game.  Therefore 
he  had  always  offered  four  scholarships  in  baseball, 
one  for  the  leading  pitcher,  one  for  the  leading  in- 
fielder,  one  for  the  leading  outfielder  and  batter,  and 
one  for  the  best  all-round  infielder  and  batsman. 

Naturally,  having  been  the  baseball  champions  for 
so  long,  the  Lowell  nine  generally  got  most  of  these 
scholarship  prizes  and  it  was  very  pleasing  to  Mr. 
Harriman  to  see  his  old  college  secure  so  many 
of  them. 

The  talk  around  the  University  wherever  the  stu- 
dents gathered  often  came  around  to  these  scholarship 
prizes,  especially  as  the  time  for  baseball  approached. 

27 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Fellows  like  Jenkins,  Larke,  Everson  and  other  of 
the  older  fellows,  some  of  whom  had  won  them  in 
years  past,  would  bring  up  the  subject  when  they 
noticed  any  of  the  young  freshmen  around,  just  to 
get  them  to  thinking  about  it,  and  a  good  many 
youngsters  had  developed  an  ambition  to  try  for  a 
scholarship  and  some  of  them  to  win  one,  just  from 
hearing  these  older  fellows  talk.  And  generally  these 
talks  would  turn  from  a  discussion  of  the  records  of 
winners  of  the  prizes  to  the  most  thrilling  perfor- 
mances of  the  individual  stars. 

The  day  of  the  first  meeting  in  the  cage  called  by 
Hughie,  to  give  him  a  chance  to  look  over  the  candi- 
dates for  the  team,  was  the  first  time  that  Case  and 
Hagner  had  been  present  at  one  of  these  talks. 

Hughie  had  given  a  general  talk  about  the  game 
and  had  talked  with  each  of  the  candidates,  asking 
various  questions,  such  as  "  what  position  do  you 
play?"  "  Can  you  bat?  Can  you  pitch?"  etc. 
After  they  had  all  thrown  the  ball  around  for  an 
hour,  just  playing  catch  so  that  Hughie  could  notice 
the  way  the  different  fellows  threw  and  swung,  they 
sat  around  gossiping  with  each  other,  nobody  want- 
ing to  go  home,  when  one  of  the  older  fellows  would 
say  something  about  the  Scholarship  Prizes. 

Generally  there  was  some  one  present  who  didn't 
know  the  details  and  this  offered  a  chance  to  tell  all 
about  the  prizes. 

In  this  case  it  was  Hagner,  who  had  been  at  school 
only  a  few  weeks,  and  all  he  knew  about  the  prizes 
was  what  Case  had  been  able  to  tell  him.  After 

28 


HARRIMAN    SCHOLARSHIP    PRIZES 

Everson  had  finished  explaining  the  prizes  fully  the 
talk,  as  usual,  drifted  on  to  the  wonderful  records  of 
the  prize  winners  of  the  past.  Not  that  sensational 
catches  or  such  other  stunts  as  unassisted  triple  plays 
would  in  themselves  secure  one  of  the  prizes,  for 
they  would  not. 

Only  the  official  scorer's  records  showing  the 
standing  of  the  candidates  were  considered,  but  it  was 
generally  the  fellow  who  had  the  best  record  for  any 
given  position  who  got  the  chance  to  pull  off  the 
thrilling  plays,  because  only  the  good  players  can 
do  the  wonderful  things. 

When  the  talk  turned  to  fielders  who  had  been 
famous  on  some  of  the  old  Lowell  teams,  it  wasn't 
long  before  they  were  telling  stories  about  great 
catches  made  by  some  of  the  fielders  on  champion- 
ship teams  of  years  gone  by. 

On  such  occasions  Fred  Larke  never  forgot  to  tell 
about  that  great  catch  made  by  Jimmy  Ryan.  How 
he  in  one  game  jumped  clear  over  the  fence  in  right 
field  which  separated  the  bleachers  from  the  playing 
field,  and  caught  a  fly  ball  while  falling  into  the 
crowd. 

Johnny  Everson  then  had  to  tell  his  story  of 
Hughie  Jenkins7  greatest  catch,  when  he  was  playing 
short  in  one  of  the  Biltmore  College  games.  There 
was  an  enormous  crowd  out.  The  stands  Couldn't 
hold  them  all,  so  they  were  let  out  on  the  field  and 
there  were  so  many  that  they  crowded  close  to  the 
base  lines.  In  the  ninth  inning  the  score  was  tied, 
one  out,  and  Bill  Everett  of  Biltmore  College  on 

29 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

third.  The  batter  hit  a  high  foul  ball  into  the 
crowd  back  of  third  base.  Some  of  them  were 
seated  but  most  of  them  were  standing.  Jenkins 
hustled  across  from  his  position  at  short,  hurled  him- 
self through  the  air  without  paying  any  attention  to 
the  crowd,  caught  the  ball  fair  and  square  and  then 
fell  in  among  the  spectators.  That  made  two  out, 


0 


but  Hughie  was  after  the  third  one.  Bill  Everett 
touched  third  after  the  catch  and  started  for  home. 
Hughie  couldn't  see  but  he  guessed  that  Everett  had 
started.  He  climbed  up  out  of  the  crowd,  stepped 
on  the  people  he  had  knocked  down,  and  threw  to  the 
plate  without  looking.  The  ball  went  straight  into 
the  catcher's  mitt  and  Everett  was  out  easily.  In 
the  next  inning  Lowell  won  the  game. 

30 


HARRIMAN    SCHOLARSHIP   PRIZES 

Then,  of  course,  Miner  Black  had  to  tell  his  re- 
markable catch  story  about  Jimmie  Siegel  in  a  twenty 
inning  game  with  Eastern  Pennsylvania.  How  in 
the  eighteenth  inning  with  a  runner  on  first  base,  the 
mightiest  hitter  of  the  Pennsylvania  nine  drove  a 
hard  hit  ball  to  left  center.  Just  at  that  moment, 
however,  Siegel  had  put  his  hand  in  his  hip  pocket 
to  get  out  his  handkerchief,  as  the  day  was  hot  and 
the  game  was  a  hard  one. 

Jimmie,  of  course,  started  after  the  ball,  and  made 
an  effort  to  pull  his  hand  out  of  his  pocket  while  run- 
ning. It  wouldn't  come  out.  He  jerked  and 
jerked  and  still  it  stuck.  Meantime  the  ball  had  to 
be  caught  on  the  run  and  Jimmie  had  to  make  a  try 
for  it  some  way.  He  leaped  in  the  air,  twisted,  stuck 
up  his  left  hand  and  caught  it  with  his  back  to  the 
diamond.  Jimmie  threw  the  ball  into  the  diamond 
with  his  left  hand.  Strange  to  say  his  right  hand 
then  came  out  of  his  pocket  easily.  He  wiped  the 
perspiration  off  his  face,  grinned,  and  the  crowd  went 
wild  for  they  realized  why  he  had  gone  after  it  with 
one  hand. 

After  such  talks  the  "  freshies,"  who  had  made 
some  pretty  fine  catches  on  the  back  lots  at  home, 
always  made  a  resolution  to  do  something  equally 
startling  when  they  got  on  the  Varsity,  and  the  candi- 
dates at  Lowell  this  year  were  a  good  deal  like  all 
the  other  freshmen  candidates  who  had  gone  before 
them  in  this  respect.  This  really  was  a  good  thing 
for  the  boys,  although,  of  course,  many  of  them  never 
realized  their  ambitions  for  such  fame. 


CHAPTER    V 

THE    FIRST   LINE-UP 

"  WELL,  what  do  you  think  of  your  freshman 
phenoms?  " 

It  was  Johnny  Everson  who  was  speaking.  John- 
ny besides  being  the  regular  second  baseman  of  the 
Varsity  was  the  chum  of  Hughie  Jenkins,  the  man- 
ager of  the  team  and  his  chief  adviser  with  Captain 
Larke.  Johnny  knew  the  game  from  top  to  bottom 
and  across  the  middle.  They  called  him  "  a  little 
bunch  of  brains  and  nerves,"  and  he  deserved  the 
compliment. 

He  was  small  in  size,  but  large  in  brains  and  many 
a  game  had  been  won  for  the  college  by  his  quick 
work  at  trying  moments,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact 
that  he  was  largely  responsible  for  the  discovery  and 
development  of  many  of  the  plays  which  had  come 
to  be  known  as  "  inside  baseball."  He  had  an  ag- 
gressive chin  which  seemed  to  be  always  pointing 
forward,  and  his  eye  was  as  quick  and  accurate  as  a 
sharpshooter's. 

'  We  seem  to  have  a  good  many  gaps  to  fill  and 
I  guess  we  will  find  mostly  yaps  to  fill  them  with," 
he  went  on;  "  anyway  that's  the  way  I  feel  to-night 
after  looking  over  the  unpromising  material  that  we 
put  through  the  stunts  at  the  cage  to-day." 

32 


THE    FIRST   LINE-UP 

"  I  don't  feel  discouraged.  You  can  never  tell, 
of  course,  on  one  trial,  but  watching  some  of  those 
youngsters  this  afternoon  made  me  think  that  with 
a  little  training  some  of  them  will  make  good,"  said 
Hughie. 

"  Let's  go  over  the  list  and  mark  the  fixtures  we 
can  count  on,  and  then  we  can  tell  what  we  have  to 
do  to  get  a  real  nine  together,"  said  Everson. 

"  All  right  At  second  we  have  you"  said  Hughie, 
"  and  I  guess  we  won't  need  to  worry  about  the  Key- 
stone bag,  and  at  third  we  have  Delvin,  who  I  think, 
will  develop  this  year  into  a  great  star  at  the  near 
station.  Captain  Larke  will  handle  left  field  all 
right  as  usual,  Miner  Black  will  come  back  stronger 
than  ever  this  year  in  the  box,  and  George  Gibbs 
will,  I  think,  do  the  catching  all  right.  That's  just 
about  half  a  team,  isn't  it?" 

"  Now,  at  the  first  sack  we  need  somebody  to 
take  Penny's  place,  and  I  must  confess  that  I  did  not 
notice  any  likely  candidate,  unless  it  was  Dill." 

"  We  are  going  to  have  a  hard  time,  I  think,  to 
find  some  one  at  short  in  place  of  our  good  friend 
Joe  Brinker." 

"  Did  you  notice  the  bowlegged  and  awkward- 
looking  German  named  Hagner  in  the  cage  to-day?  " 
broke  in  Everson.  "  If  he  wasn't  so  big  and  awk- 
ward looking,  he  might  be  able  to  bat  and  we  Could 
play  him  in  the  outer  gardens,  but  I  hardly  think  he 
would  ever  make  a  shortstop." 

"  I  hardly  think  so  either,"  said  Jenkins,  "  but  I 
had  a  talk  with  him  and  he  said  he  could  play  short. 

33 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

I  have  also  had  a  report  from  Texas,  where  he  came 
from,  that  he  is  a  perfect  terror  at  bat.  I  can  hardly 
hope  though  that  he  will  be  able  to  fill  Drinker's 
place.  I  think  if  we  could  figure  out  some  scheme 
to  remodel  his  anatomy  we  might  be  able  to  make 
something  out  of  him.  Still  he  may  be  a  diamond 
in  the  rough.  I  don't  think  you  can  tell  anything 
about  any  of  them  until  you  see  them  work  in  the 
open  air  for  a  week  or  two." 

"What  do  you  think  about  right  field?"  asked 
Johnny. 

"  If  I  am  not  mistaken,"  answered  Hughie,  "  we 
have  the  real  prize  package  in  that  young  chap  from 
Georgia,  Robb  (a  regular  cracker  name,  isn't  it)  ? 
Did  you  notice  him  at  all?  Did  you  ever  see  more 
speed?  I  am  knocking  on  wood  when  I  talk  about 
him,  because  I  don't  want  to  fool  myself,  but  if  I 
was  a  scout  for  a  professional  team,  and  saw  this 
fellow  Robb  playing  ball  on  some  back  lot,  I  think 
I'd  buy  him  without  instructions  from  headquarters." 

"  Lots  of  them  look  like  stars  the  first  few  days 
of  spring,"  said  Johnny.  "  I  noticed  Robb  particu- 
larly, too.  I  was  thinking  that  while  he  is  a  clean- 
cut  looking  fellow,  I'd  hate  to  get  into  a  fight  with 
him,  because  he  looks  like  a  chap  who  has  no  fear 
of  anything." 

"  Besides  Robb  there  were  half  a  dozen  others 
who  looked  like  they  might  be  made  into  fielders," 
said  Hughie.  "  There  was  Talkington,  McKee, 
Raymur,  Oakley,  Lunley,  and  Flack.  If  any  of 
them  know  how  to  swing  a  bat,  I  think  we  will  be 

34 


THE    FIRST    LINE-UP 

able  to  teach  them  what  they  need  to  know  about 
catching  flies." 

"  As  usual  most  of  the  candidates  want  to  pitch 
and  if  Miner  is  all  right  this  year  we  won't  need  any 
one  to  help  him,  except,  perhaps,  a  left-hander.  Did 
you  notice  anything  promising  along  this  line?  I 
was  so  busy  looking  over  the  fielders  and  possible 
first  basemen  that  I  didn't  pay  much  attention  to  the 
pitchers.  I  rather  liked  the  delivery  of  Crossley  the 
short  time  he  was  throwing.  He  looked  promising 
for  a  rich  man's  son." 

"  Besides  that  will  be  easier  when  old  man  Young 
gets  here  and  we  get  them  out  for  coaching.  You 
can  also  pick  them  out  in  batting  practice.  Just  tell 
them  to  throw  straight  swift  balls  over  the  plate 
and  you  can  pick  out  the  poor  ones  anyhow,  because 
a  pitcher  who  can't  put  a  straight  ball  over  nine 
times  out  of  ten,  isn't  worth  developing.  Then  by 
the  time  Young  gets  a  chance  at  them  for  a  week 
we'll  know  which  are  no  good  at  all,  and  what  ones 
it  will  pay  him  to  coach." 

"  I  had  a  talk,"  said  Johnny,  "  with  that  Cali- 
fornia lad,  Case.  He  is  a  quiet  chap  and  unassum- 
ing. He  says  he  is  a  southpaw  pitcher  too,  and  he 
may  be  what  we  are  looking  for." 

A  few  days  after  this  talk  in  Hughie's  room  the 
snow  began  to  melt  and  within  a  week  Lowell  field, 
which  had  for  months  been  covered  with  snow  and 
ice,  suddenly  took  on  a  greenish  look,  the  ground  be- 
came dry  and  firm  and  everyone  began  to  feel  the 
spring  in  the  air.  One  day,  not  long  after,  there 

35 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

appeared    upon    the    bulletin    board    the    following 
notice : 

University  Baseball.  Outdoor  practice.  On 
the  field  at  I  P.  M.  February  25th.  Candidates 
must  bring  their  own  suits. 

HUGH  JENKINS,  Manager. 

There  was  joy  in  the  hearts  of  the  hundred,  for 
there  were  about  that  number  who  hoped  to  be 
picked  for  the  Varsity.  Out  of  the  hundred,  at 
least  ninety  were  certain  to  be  disappointed  as  far 
as  the  Varsity  was  concerned,  for  there  were  only 
about  ten  places  to  fill,  counting  the  substitutes. 

Of  course,  there  was  a  chance  that  a  fellow  would 
get  on  the  second  squad  which  might  help  him  to 
the  Varsity  next  year,  and  then  there  was  always  the 
freshman  team  which  was  formed  last  and  which 
generally  was  an  all  pitcher  team,  so  to  speak,  be- 
cause every  man  on  it  had  nursed  secret  hopes  of 
making  the  Varsity  his  first  year,  as  a  pitcher. 

Harold  Case  was  out  early.  He  had  come  to  the 
field  with  Hagner  and  was  now  sitting  on  the  steps 
of  the  clubhouse  waiting  for  Hagner,  who  had  be- 
come his  good  friend.  It  was  a  strange  friendship 
that  had  sprung  up  between  these  two — the  tall  big- 
boned  and  awkward  German  lad,  almost  a  man  in 
looks,  and  this  young  and  exceedingly  graceful  West- 
ern lad,  and  both  were  profiting  by  it. 

While  he  was  sitting  there,  what  was  left  of  last 
year's  champions  trotted  out  on  the  field.  Gibbs, 
second  catcher  last  year,  and  Larke,  old  cronies; 

36 


THE    FIRST   LINE-UP 

Black  and  Delvin;  and  last  of  all,  of  course,  the  in- 
separables, Everson  and  Jenkins.  The  rest  of  the 
candidates  straggled  out  on  to  the  field  in  twos  and 
threes,  to  the  number  of  fully  a  hundred,  and  pres- 
ently Hagner  came  out  with  his  old  bat  and  glove 
in  hand  and  Harold  got  up  and  they  walked  over  to 
the  diamond  together. 

"  Better  not  let  yourself  out  any  to-day,"  said 
Hagner,  as  they  approached  the  others  who  had  al- 
ready paired  off  and  were  tossing  balls  back  and 
forth  to  each  other. 

Before  Harold  had  time  to  answer,  however,  Jen- 
kins had  said  the  same  thing  practically. 

"  Getting  ready  for  a  baseball  season  isn't  quite 
like  developing  a  football  team,"  said  Hughie.  "  In 
football  you  have  to  get  the  team  in  shape  for  one 
or  two  big  games,  each  of  them  requiring  a  terrific 
outburst  of  energy,  without  thinking  about  the  mor- 
row, but  in  the  case  of  a  baseball  nine  you  have  to 
develop  your  bodies  to  withstand  the  strain  of  a  long 
series  of  games,  mostly  in  warm  weather,  and  you 
must  start  slowly  and  get  into  condition  gradually, 
so  do  not  try  to  do  it  all  to-day. 

"  Another  thing,  in  football  we  train  the  team  to 
withstand  hard  knocks,  a  sort  of  bull-dog  develop- 
ment, while  a  baseball  team  must  have  the  nice 
strength  of  a  greyhound  so  as  to  enable  it  to  keep 
going  at  top  speed  for  a  long  time,  and  so  I  want 
you  to  go  easy." 

So  he  had  them  stand  in  circles,  making  five  or 
six  groups,  and  pass  around  medicine  balls,  an 

37 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

exercise  to  strengthen  the  trunk  muscles.  Then  they 
paired  off  again,  and  tossed  the  baseball  to  each 
other  two  by  two — gently — just  like  boys  playing 
catch. 

All  at  once  Hughie  called  out,  "  Come  on,  boys, 
around  the  field,"  and  starting  off  in  front  he  trotted 
all  the  way  round  the  field  along  the  fence.  By  the 
time  they  got  started  on  the  second  round  a  lot  of  the 
fellows  were  puffing  and  blowing  hard  and  found 
it  difficult  to  keep  up,  but  Hughie  knew  how  impor- 
tant it  was  for  a  ball  player  to  have  wind  and  he 
knew  this  kind  of  a  stunt  practiced  a  couple  of  times 
a  day  would  fix  them  up  in  good  shape  by  the  time 
the  games  started. 

Then  he  called  them  all  up  to  the  plate  for  batting 
practice,  and  asked  if  there  was  any  fellow  around 
who  could  pitch.  He  knew,  of  course,  that  Miner 
Black  was  there,  but  Miner  knew  enough  not  to  say 
anything.  What  Hughie  wanted  was  to  find  out 
what  kind  of  control  these  new  fellows  who  thought 
they  could  pitch  had  with  a  slow  straight  ball. 
Hughie  and  Coach  Young,  who  had  arrived,  stood 
back  of  the  plate  with  Everson  and  Larke  watching. 

Out  of  the  dozen  youngsters  who  said  they  would 
try  he  picked  out  Hackett  and  told  him  to  go  into 
the  box. 

"  Now  go  ahead,"  said  Hughie.  "  Don't  use  any 
curves  and  don't  try  to  burn  them  over;  just  give  us 
some  slow  straight  balls  and  try  to  get  them  across 
the  plate." 

What  he  really  was  trying  to  do  besides  give  the 

38 


THE    FIRST    LINE-UP 

men  batting  practice  was  to  get  a  line  on  the  new 
pitching  material,  and  this  was  the  best  way  to  get  it. 

Then  he  had  the  batters  take  turns  at  the  plate, 
and  each  fellow  was  expected  to  stay  there  until  he 
had  made  a  hit,  Hughie  standing  by  showing  each, 
especially  the  new  ones,  how  to  stand  up  to  the  ball 
and  meet  it  fairly.  Hackett,  the  first  pitcher,  didn't 
seem  to  be  able  to  get  them  anywhere  near  the  plate, 
and  so  Hughie  told  the  next  one,  Crossley,  to  go  in 
and  give  it  a  trial.  He  was  a  little  better,  but  they 
had  finally  to  call  on  Miner  to  put  a  few  over. 

As  usual,  Miner  was  long  on  control.  Johnny 
Everson  stepped  to  the  plate.  Miner  served  one  up 
and  bing!  The  ball  went  scurrying  out  to  right 
field.  Each  fellow  took  his  turn  at  bat.  Boys  like 
Delvin,  Larke  and  Gibbs — standing  up  like  veter- 
ans and  cracking  the  hits  out  in  fine  shape,  giving 
a  little  more  running  practice  to  some  of  the 
youngsters  who  had  been  sent  out  to  the  field  to 
chase  the  balls. 

Finally  it  came  Hagner' s  turn.  He  stepped  up  to 
the  plate  and  stood  there  rather  slouchily  and  loose- 
ly, far  away  from  the  mark  as  if  he  were  afraid  of 
the  ball. 

"  Better  step  up  a  little  closer,"  said  Hughie,  "  he 
won't  hit  you." 

"  All  right,"  said  Hagner,  "  I  want  to  learn  all 
about  it." 

Miner  served  up  one  to  him  straight  as  an  arrow. 
Hagner  swung  hard  at  it  and  missed.  He  felt  a  bit 
surprised  himself.  The  next  one  he  fouled  off  the 

39 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

bat  near  his  hands.  Just  as  Miner  sent  up  the  third 
ball  Hagner  stepped  back  from  the  plate,  swung  the 
bat  easily,  met  it  squarely  and  crack  went  the  ball  in 
a  white  streak  clean  over  the  center  field  fence ! 


Miner  looked  at  him  surprised  and  said,  "  You 
can't  do  that  again." 

The  next  time  Hagner  came  up,  Miner  decided 
to  use  some  curves  and  make  him  earn  his  hit.  He 
sent  up  what  looked  like  a  fast  straight  ball  about 
waist  high.  Hagner  swung  on  it  and  missed.  The 
ball  had  a  terrific  out  curve  and,  of  course,  Hagner 
understood  they  were  only  to  be  straight.  He  eyed 
Miner  closely  and  when  he  started  to  pitch  Hagner 
stooped  over  to  watch  the  ball  like  a  hawk.  On  came 

40 


THE    FIRST    LINE-UP 

the  ball,  starting  wide  of  the  plate  and  Hagner  first 
decided  it  was  a  ball  and  then  as  the  inshoot  started 
in  toward  the  plate,  quick  as  a  wink  Hagner  swung 
his  bat  and  over  the  fence  she  went  again. 

The  fellows  went  wild.  Hughie  and  Everson 
standing  back  of  the  batting  cage  looked  at  each 
other.  "What  do  you  know  about  that?"  asked 
Everson. 

"I  don't  know  anything,"  said  Hughie.  "  For  a 
big  awkward  fellow,  he  seems  to  be  about  the  quick- 
est thing  I  ever  saw.  Why!  he  didn't  even  look 
ready  to  hit  at  that  ball  until  it  started  to  shoot  in 
toward  the  plate,  and  I  was  sure  he  was  going  to  let 
it  go  by.  If  he  can  bat  like  that  regularly,  we'll 
play  him  some  place  if  he  fumbles  every  ball  that  is 
batted  to  him." 

Pretty  soon  Hughie  asked,  "  Haven't  we  got  an- 
other left-hander  here?  " 

"  There  ought  to  be,"  said  Everson,  looking 
around.  "  Here,  Case,  get  out  there  and  show  what 
you  can  do.  This  is  your  chance." 

"  Thanks,"  said  Case  in  his  polite  way.  "  I'll 
try  if  you  want  me  to."  He  walked  into  the  box 
and  picked  up  the  ball  where  Miner  had  dropped  it. 
He  had  not  really  tried  to  pitch  since  last  summer 
and  was  a  little  nervous.  The  first  ball  went  a  little 
bit  wide.  The  second  one  nearly  hit  the  batter. 
The  line  of  waiting  batters  grinned. 

"  Southpaws  are  either  very  good  or  very  bad," 
said  Captain  Larke  to  Delvin.  After  he  had  thrown 
a  dozen  balls  or  so,  however,  Case's  arm  got  in 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

working  order  and  only  an  occasional  ball  went  wide 
of  the  plate. 

"  He  seems  to  be  pretty  good  on  the  straight 
ones,"  said  Jenkins.  "  If  he  can  do  as  well  when 
we  let  them  begin  to  try  the  curves,  I  think  we  can 
put  him  on  as  a  substitute." 

"  What  do  you  think  of  the  bunch  in  general?  " 
asked  Everson. 

"  Well,"  said  Hughie,  "  I  think  I  can  see  a  team 
out  of  this  crowd  all  right,  though  I  am  not  quite 
sure  of  Dill  at  first  base.  This  fellow  Robb  seems 
to  be  a  fine  batter  and  so  does  Talkington.  Coach 
Young  says  there  was  one  of  the  young  pitchers  that 
looked  good,  too — young  Radams.  If  this  Hagner 
knows  as  much  about  any  position  as  he  seems  to 
about  batting,  I  think  I'll  let  him  choose  his  position. 
Think  of  trying  to  tell  him  how  to  stand  up  to  the 
plate.  He's  just  a  natural  ball  player.  Don't  be- 
lieve he  knows  himself  how  he  hits  them.  Black 
told  me,  after  he  came  out  of  the  box,  that  he  did 
his  best  to  fool  Hagner  every  time  after  that  first 
time  up,  and  you  know  how  he  succeeded.  We'll 
know  more  when  we  get  them  out  on  the  diamond 
in  the  various  positions." 

By  this  time  the  sun  was  sinking  and  it  was  too 
dark  for  further  practice.  Hagner  and  Case  walked 
over  to  the  clubhouse  together. 

"  You  sure  made  a  hit  with  the  crowd  to-day,  Hag- 
ner," said  Case. 

"  I  made  five  hits  with  my  bat,"  said  Hagner, 
"  two  of  them  over  the  fence." 

42 


THE    FIRST   LINE-UP 

"  Guess  you  will  make  the  team  all  right,"  re- 
marked Case.  "  I  heard  Jenkins  say,  any  fellow 
who  can  bat  like  that  can  take  his  pick  of  positions 
and  play  any  one  he  likes." 

"  Good.    I'll  play  shortstop  if  they  give  a  choice." 

"  Wish  I  had  made  as  big  a  hit  as  you,"  said  Case. 

"  You  did,  because  I  heard  Everson  and  Jenkins 
talking  it  over,  too;  and  they  said  you  had  excellent 
control,  and  if  you  did  well  with  the  curves  they 
could  carry  you  with  the  team.  If  I  were  you,  how- 
ever, I'd  learn  to  play  some  position,  and  make  your 
way  as  a  utility  player.  You  see,  left-handed  pitchers 
are  all  right,  but  with  a  regular  pitcher  like  this 
Miner  Black  here,  you  wouldn't  often  get  a  chance 
to  pitch  more  than  an  inning  or  two,  anyhow." 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Case,  "  how  good  this  Miner 
Black  is,  but  I  think  I  can  beat  him  to  the  regular 
pitching  job." 

"  All  right,"  said  Hagner,  "  but  if  you  don't  have 
any  more  luck  at  ousting  him  than  most  of  the  fel- 
lows have  had  hitting  him,  you'll  be  out  of  a  regular 
job  on  the  team  for  a  long  time.  I'd  practice  play- 
ing the  first  bag.  Still  think  you'd  make  a  first  base- 


man." 


"  I  don't  think  so,"  said  Case,  as  they  entered  the 
dressing  room  to  change  their  clothes,  "  besides 
either  Dill  or  Ross  seems  sure  to  land  the  job." 

The  second  week  of  out-door  practice  the  regular 
work  of  the  boys  was  increased.  At  batting  practice 
every  fellow  was  expected  to  run  clear  around  the 
bases  after  he  made  his  hit.  The  coaches  and  man- 

43 


WON    IN    THE   NINTH 

agers  got  a  line  on  the  base-running  ability  of  the 
boys  in  this  way.  Hagner,  Robb,  Case  and  Talk- 
ington  all  showed  up  well  in  this  direction. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  week  the  fellows  were 
lined  up  on  the  diamond  at  their  regular  positions, 
the  coaches  trying  out  the  various  candidates  for  the 
fielding  jobs.  Hughie  batted  grounders  to  the  infield, 
to  each  of  them  in  turn. 

After  each  play  the  ball  was  thrown  from  base 
to  base  in  all  of  the  different  combinations  necessary 
to  all  the  imaginary  situations,  from  short  to  first  it 
went,  from  first  to  third,  from  third  home,  and  from 
there  to  second,  a  white  streak,  the  speed  of  the 
players  increasing  daily  as  the  men  got  surer  of  their 
positions. 

Others  were  batting  flies  to  the  outfield  and  the 
coaches  were  moving  about  watching  the  work  of 
each  man  as  he  was  tried  in  the  different  positions. 
Each  of  the  fielders  was  given  a  variety  of  work,  at 
bunting  and  the  fielding  of  bunts,  catching  high  in- 
field flies,  picking  up  sizzling  grounders,  etc.  This 
work  enabled  Hughie  to  pick  out  his  first  line-up 
for  the  first  and  second  squads. 

By  the  middle  of  March  the  two  squads  were 
playing  practice  games  among  themselves. 

The  first  squad  generally  lined  up  as  follows: 

ist  Base Dill 

2nd  Base Everson 

3rd  Base   Delvin 

Short Hagner 

Right  Fielder Rol 

44 


THE    FIRST   LINE-UP 

Center  Fielder Talkington 

Left  Fielder Larke 

Catcher   Gibbs 

Pitcher Black 

The  second  squad  was  composed  of  a  miscellane- 
ous crew  generally  lined  up  as  follows: 

ist  Base Ross 

2nd  Base Gane 

3rd  Base Conley 

Short Wallach 

Right  Fielder Raymur 

Center  Fielder Oakley 

Left  Fielder McKee 

Catcher McLuin 

Pitcher Radams 

Harold  Case  was  a  sort  of  substitute  pitcher  for 
both  squads.  He  would  relieve  Black  for  a  while 
for  the  first  squad  and  Radams  for  the  other  squad, 
so  that  both  teams  got  plenty  of  practice  in  batting 
a  left-hand  pitcher.  There  was  no  way  for  him  to 
find  out  in  advance  what  Jenkins  thought  of  him, 
but  he  had  high  hopes  of  making  the  team,  and  he 
felt  absolutely  confident  that  if  he  ever  got  a  chance 
in  one  of  the  full  regular  games,  he  would  be  able 
to  make  good.  Crossley  also  was  given  a  good  deal 
of  work  during  these  practice  games,  as  he  gave 
promise  of  doing  well  and  it  began  to  look  as  though 
the  choice  for  left-hand  pitchers  would  be  between 
these  two. 


45 


CHAPTER    VI 

PICKING  THE    VARSITY 

ON  the  2  ist  day  of  March  as  Harold  with  the 
other  members  of  the  squads  was  in  the  dressing 
room  after  practice,  the  head  coach  came  into  the 
room  with  a  slip  of  paper  in  his  hand  which  he  posted 
on  the  Bulletin  Board.  There  was  a  rush  to  read 
the  notice  as  soon  as  the  coach  had  departed,  and 
several  faces,  as  they  turned  away,  wore  a  look  of 
disappointment,  while  others  seemed  proud  and 
happy. 

Hagner  and  Case  finally  finished  dressing  and 
turned  to  the  board  to  read  the  bulletin  before  going 
out.  This  rs  what  they  read: 

VARSITY  TRAINING  TABLE — The  training  table 
will  start  in  the  morning  at  Prettyman's  and  the  fol- 
lowing men  for  the  first  squad  will  report  there  for 
breakfast — Everson,  Delvin,  Larke,  Gibbs,  Black, 
Hagner,  Robb,  Talkington,  Dill,  Case,  Radams, 
Ross  and  Huyler.  About  the  first  of  next  month 
the  list  may  be  increased  or  changed.  Breakfast  at 
eight  o'clock  sharp.  Members  are  required  to  be 
on  time.  HUGH  JENKINS,  Manager. 

"Guess  I'll  get  a  chance  to  pitch  after  all,"  said 


PICKING   THE    VARSITY 

Harold.  It  was  a  great  day  for  him  and  he  was 
highly  elated.  The  19 —  Varsity  had  begun  to  take 
definite  shape,  and  being  named  on  it  meant  recog- 
nition by  the  great  student  body  as  possessing  some- 
thing worth  while  in  the  line  of  ability.  The  news 
spread  rapidly  through  the  University  and  wherever 
the  boys  who  had  been  named  went  they  were  treated 
with  honor  and  respect. 

Breakfast  the  first  morning  at  the  training  table 
was  a  good  deal  of  a  get-together,  get-acquainted 
affair.  I  do  not  know  what  it  is  that  makes  the  choice 
of  nicknames  or  how  it  is  that  it  comes  easier  to 
know  some  fellows  by  either  their  first  or  last  names, 
others  by  an  abbreviation  of  one  or  the  other,  and 
still  others  by  adoption  of  something  entirely  differ- 
ent, but  when  boys  get  to  a  certain  stage  of  acquaint- 
ance with  each  other  there  comes  a  spontaneous  desire 
to  bestow  a  nickname  and  these  names  generally  fit 
in  a  remarkable  way.  Harold  Case  went  to  break- 
fast known  as  Case  and  came  out  to  be  forever  known 
to  Lowell  men  as  Hal. 

John  Hagner  started  to  drink  his  coffee  that  morn- 
ing as  Hagner  and  when  he  had  folded  his  napkin  he 
was  known  as  both  Hans  and  Honus,  why  nobody 
ever  could  tell,  and  the  names  stuck  to  him  for  life. 

Charles  Radams  came  away  with  the  nickname 
Babe  and  as  Babe  he  went  down  into  the  Lowell 
Book  of  Heroes. 

Everson  had  always  been  Everson  before.  He 
was  Everson  when  he  sat  down  to  the  table  that  morn- 
ing, and  he  was  still  Everson  when  he  left  the  room, 

47 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

though  why  this  little  brainy  Crab  should  have 
gotten  off  without  a  nickname  is  far  beyond  me. 

You  would  think  that  Larke,  who  was  always  jolly, 
either  whistling  or  singing  when  not  eating  or  asleep, 
would  have  been  named  The  Lark  years  before,  but 
no,  they  called  him  just  Cap.,  yet  they  had  always 
called  Gibbs,  Gibbie. 

If  there  were  a  regular  rule  for  nicknames  they 
would  undoubtedly  have  called  Black,  White,  but 
they  always  referred  to  him  as  Miner.  Delvin  they 
generally  called  Arthur. 

There  was  something  stiff  about  Dill  which  was  a 
good  deal  like  the  way  he  played  first  base  in  the 
few  games  he  lasted  on  the  Varsity  that  year,  and  the 
dispenser  of  nicknames  overlooked  him  entirely  at 
that  first  breakfast.  In  fact,  he  never  did  acquire 
one,  for  he  was  dropped  from  the  team  before  any- 
one could  really  find  a  good  name  to  fit  him.  Pickle 
would  have  been  a  good  name  for  him,  and  also 
his  fate  so  far  as  the  team  was  concerned. 

Talkington  was  a  quiet  young  chap,  who  said  very 
little  either  at  the  table  or  on  the  field,  so  that 
"  Talkie  "  or  "  Mr.  Speaker,"  or  anything  like  that 
wouldn't  seem  natural  at  all,  so  they  called  him 
"  Tris  "  and  let  it  go  at  that. 

Robb  might  really  have  been  given  a  fitting  name 
at  the  end  of  the  season.  If  they  had  waited  until 
then  they  would  undoubtedly  have  called  him  Robb 
because  he  had  developed  into  the  greatest  base 
stealer  the  game  ever  knew,  but  somebody  had 
passed  him  the  oatmeal  that  morning,  after  he  had 


PICKING   THE    VARSITY 

demanded  it  vigorously,  with  a  "  Here  you  are,  Ty- 
rant," and  Ty  he  is  to-day — a  very  short  name  for  so 
long  a  fellow. 

A  week  later  they  played  the  first  real  game  of 
the  season,  the  first  real  test  of  the  line-up  as  it  had 
been  worked  out  by  Jenkins.  The  game,  which  was 
with  Colfax,  a  small  neighboring  college,  was  not  an 
important  one.  Never  had  they  been  able  to  beat 
Lowell  and  rarely  in  all  the  games  that  had  taken 
place  between  the  two  teams  had  Lowell  been  even 
scored  upon.  As  it  was,  it  was  hardly  even  a  test 
game  for  the  Varsity.  Hal  sat  on  the  players'  bench 
with  his  chin  on  his  hands,  and  watched  the  Colfax 
boys  getting  licked. 

There  wasn't  anything  very  exciting  about  sitting 
on  the  bench  and  there  was  nothing  very  encouraging 
about  the  playing  of  even  the  Lowell  boys.  With 
the  exception  of  a  hair-raising  one-handed  stop  by 
Hagner  of  a  fast  grounder  over  second,  and  a  won- 
derfully accurate  throw  to  first  without  getting  into 
position,  and  the  fine  work  of  Gibbie  behind  the  bat 
in  stopping  Babe  Radams'  wild  drops  and  curves 
which  the  Colfax  boys  struck  at  blindly,  the  game 
was  dull  and  uninteresting. 

If  the  Colfax  team  had  not  had  the  usual  attack 
of  stage  fright  that  struck  it  whenever  it  played 
Lowell,  it  probably  would  have  won.  Dill  on  first 
dropped  three  throws  in  succession  made  by  Everson 
to  catch  runners  at  first,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for 
the  accurate  throwing  of  Gibbie  to  Delvin  and  Ever- 
son who  nipped  all  base  runners  as  they  tried  to  reach 

49 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

second  and  third,  there  is  no  knowing  but  that  the 
Coif  ax  team  might  have  scored,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  possibility  of  winning.  Hagner  had  fumbled  an 
easy  grounder,  only  to  make  a  jumping  catch  of  a 
high  liner  from  the  bat  of  the  next  man,  which  he 
promptly  threw  to  first  completing  a  double  as  Dill 
did  not  miss  that  one. 


Ty  in  right  field  had  misjudged  the  only  chance 
he  had  but  had  recovered  the  ball  in  time  to  catch  his 
man  at  third  with  a  quick  throw  and  Delvin  at  the 
bag  to  receive  it. 

By  the  end  of  the  seventh  inning  the  score  stood 
8  to  o  in  favor  of  Lowell  in  spite  of  the  poor 
playing.  The  Varsity  had  batted  well,  nearly  every 
one  had  made  hits,  Everson  had  i ;  Honus,  2 ;  Delvin, 

50 


PICKING   THE    VARSITY 

i ;  Ty,  2 ;  Tris,  2 ;  Cap.,  i ;  Gibbie,  i ;  Dill,  i ;  and 
even  Babe  Radams  had  dropped  a  Texas  Leaguer 
over  second.  Hal  had  sat  on  the  bench  all  the  time 
with  Ross  and  Miner  and  some  of  the  second  squad. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eighth,  Jenkins  turned  to 
Ross  and  said:  "  You  cover  the  first  bag,"  and  then 
touHal,  "  Go  on  in  the  box  for  a  little  real  practice, 
Hal."  "That's  all  right,  Babe,"  noticing  a  look 
of  disappointment  on  Radams'  face.  "  You  are  doing 
fine,  but  you  can't  have  all  the  practice." 

"  Remember,  Hal,"  he  called  from  the  bench, 
"  let  them  hit  it,  but  we  can't  have  any  scoring 
against  us." 

"  All  right,"  said  Hal,  as  he  picked  up  the  ball. 

The  first  man  up  hit  the  first  ball  pitched  for  a 
base.  The  second  batter  laid  down  a  neat  bunt 
along  the  first  base  line.  Ross,  the  first  baseman, 
came  in  for  it,  and  Hal  hustled  over  to  cover  the 
bag.  Meantime  the  batter  who  was  fast  man,  was 
tearing  down  the  base  line  like  mad.  Ross  made  a 
good  pick-up  and  turned  to  throw. 

By  that  time  the  batter  was  only  a  few  feet  from 
the  bag  where  Hal  was  to  receive  the  throw.  Ross 
had  to  throw  quick  and  in  doing  so  threw  the  ball 
at  Hal's  feet.  Hal  reached  down,  made  a  neat  pick- 
up, and  the  umpire  waved  the  runner  out. 

There  was  now  one  out  with  a  man  on  second. 
The  third  batter  hit  a  hard  one  at  Everson,  who  re- 
tired the  runner  at  first,  the  man  on  second  reaching 
third.  The  next  batter  hit  a  slow  bounder  between 
the  box  and  first.  Hal  started  after  the  ball,  grabbed 

51 


WON   IN   THE   NINTH 

it  on  the  bounce  with  one  hand  and  without  stopping 
raced  to  first  base,  which  he  reached  just  ahead  of  the 
runner,  making  the  third  out. 

As  he  walked  to  the  bench  Jenkins  came  up  to 
meet  him  and  patting  him  on  the  back,  said:  "  Good 
boy,  Hal,"  which  was  fine,  Hal  thought. 

It  was  his  turn  at  bat,  and  he  walked  to  the  plate 
with  high  hopes  of  making  at  least  a  two  bagger. 
The  first  ball  looked  like  a  straight  one  so  Hal  took 
a  good  swing  at  it  and  missed.  "  That's  all  right," 
called  Hughie  from  the  coaching  lines,  "  there  will 
be  two  more  better  ones  coming  over  directly."  The 
next  was  a  ball.  The  third  was  a  slow  one,  and  as 
Hal  noticed  the  left-fielder  playing  pretty  far  out  he 
thought  he  would  just  tap  it  for  a  nice  little  short 
fly  back  of  third.  He  thought  of  this  as  the  ball  was 
coming  toward  him  from  the  pitcher's  hands.  He 
whirled  his  bat  with  a  short,  quick  swing  and 
— thud — he  heard  the  ball  strike  the  catcher's 
mitt. 

"  Well,"  he  heard  Hughie  calling  him,  "  you  only 
need  one  to  hit  it,  and  you  got  one  left."  The  next 
two  balls  he  fouled  off.  The  next  two  the  umpire 
called  balls  and  it  was  two  strikes  and  three  balls. 
Hal  set  himself  for  the  last  one.  It  was  now  or 
never.  Here  was  probably  his  only  chance  to-day  to 
make  a  hit  and  he  might  not  get  into  another  game 
for  weeks  and  show  what  he  could  do  with  his  bat. 
Slowly  the  pitcher  started  to  wind  up.  Hal  watched 
every  move.  Here  it  came  waist  high  and  straight. 
Now  watch  it.  He  swung  at  it  hard.  He  heard 

52 


PICKING   THE    VARSITY 

first — a  tick,  then  a  thud.     He  had  made  a  foul  tip 
and  the  ball  had  struck  in  the  catcher's  mitt. 

"  That's  all  right,"  he  heard  Hughie  saying,  "  we 
don't  expect  pitchers  to  hit  'em  anyhow."  But  Hal 
was  disappointed  and  sore  as  he  walked  to  the  bench. 
The  next  two  men  were  retired  on  infield  hits,  and  as 
Hal  walked  to  the  box  to  pitch  the  first  half  of  the 
ninth  inning  he  was  nervous  and  mad  at  himself. 

The  result  was  he  served  up  four  bad  balls  in 
succession  and  there  was  a  man  on  first.  The  next 
up  hit  the  first  ball  right  at  Ross  who  was  hugging 
the  base  and  he  booted  it.  Hal  was  over  on  first  bag 
in  a  jump  but  Ross  got  the  ball  to  him  too  late  to 
earn  an  assist  and  there  were  two  men  on  and  no- 
body out.  The  crowd  began  to  yell,  "  Take  him 
out."  "  Where's  Miner?"  but  Jenkins  paid  no  at- 
tention. Many  a  pitcher  had  given  a  base  on  balls, 
and  Hal  was  not  responsible  for  the  second  man. 

He  got  ready  to  pitch  as  he  faced  the  batter;  he 
somehow  felt  the  man  was  going  to  bunt.  As  he  de- 
livered the  ball  he  started  toward  the  plate  on  the 
run,  following  the  ball  in.  The  batter  bunted. 
Hal  was  almost  on  top  of  him.  He  reached  out, 
caught  the  ball  off  the  bat  before  it  had  reached  the 
ground,  thus  making  a  caught  fly  out  of  what  would 
have  been  a  perfect  bunt,  whirled  around  and  fired 
the  ball  to  Everson  at  second,  who  nearly  missed  it 
because  the  play  was  almost  too  quick  for  him,  thus 
completing  a  remarkable  double  play. 

The  crowd  cheered.  He  heard  them  saying :  "  Oh ! 
You !  Hal !  Good  boy !  You  needn't  take  him 

53 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

out !  "  and  he  felt  so  good  he  went  back  into  the  box 
and  struck  out  the  next  batter  and  the  game  was  over. 
Then  there  was  the  usual  rush  to  get  the  sweaters, 
and  the  fans  and  players  hustling  to  get  off  the  field 
as  fast  as  they  could  together — the  fans  to  get  home 
to  dinner  and  the  players  to  the  shower  baths  and  rub- 
downs. 


Wore 
hit  ttue 


Hal  hustled  along  with  the  rest.  On  the  way  he 
caught  up  with  and  passed  Jenkins  and  Everson,  to- 
gether as  usual.  They  did  not  see  him,  but  he  heard 
Jenkins  say:  "  He  looks  more  like  a  fielder  than  a 
pitcher,"  and  he  thought  they  meant  him.  Later, 
as  he  walked  along  to  his  boarding  house  with  Hans, 
they  talked  about  the  game,  and  the  part  each  of 
them  had  taken  in  it,  and  Hans  said,  "  I  think  you 

54 


PICKING   THE    VARSITY 

would  make  a  good  first  baseman,"  but  Hal,  who 
thought  he  had  come  out  of  his  pitching  test  pretty 
well  said,  "  But  you  see  they  don't  need  a  first  base- 
man (they  all  have  their  bad  days  like  Dill  and 
Ross  to-day),  and  they  may  need  a  good  pitcher 
any  time." 


55 


CHAPTER    VII 

HAL   AND   CROSSLEY 

THERE  were  quite  a  number  of  disappointed  can- 
didates the  day  the  Varsity  list  was  posted.  The 
disappointment  was  felt  most  by  the  boys  who  had 
an  idea  that  they  were  the  real  thing  as  pitchers.  A 
pitcher  can  rarely  do  anything  but  pitch,  and  a  large 
percentage  of  boys  who  think  they  have  the  pitching 
ability  do  not  make  good  when  put  to  the  real  test. 
And  so  when  they  picked  out  the  candidates  for  the 
Varsity  that  year,  a  great  number  of  fellows  who  had 
high  hopes  missed  even  the  second  squad  and  finally 
landed  on  the  freshman  team. 

Among  the  fellows  who  had  hopes  of  making  the 
team  was  Edward  Crossley.  He  had  reported  as  a 
pitcher  and  had  been  given  a  good  many  try-outs  in 
the  batting  practice,  and  at  first  Hughie  was  at- 
tracted by  his  work  and  had  one  or  two  talks  with 
him  about  his  experience.  Hughie's  first  impression 
was  that  Crossley  could  be  developed  into  a  substitute 
or  extra  pitcher  as  he  was  strong  and  could  throw  a 
swift  ball.  He  also  seemed  to  be  able  to  serve  up 
curves  fairly  well.  But  Hughie  had  to  change  his 
mind  about  Crossley.  He  was  too  erratic. 

The  trouble  with  Crossley  was  that  he  was  a 
spoiled  son  of  a  very  rich  man.  He  had  the  most 

56 


HAL   AND    CROSSLEY 

luxurious  rooms  of  any  of  the  fellows  at  Lowell. 
He  had  a  servant  and  an  automobile.  He  had  lots 
of  money  to  spend  and  he  didn't  hesitate  to  "  blow 
it  "  as  the  boys  say.  He  was  a  good  fellow  with 
the  boys  whom  he  chose  to  make  his  friends  and  he 
liked  and  was  liked  by  those  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact  as  long  as  no  one  tried  to  do  things  different 
from  the  way  he  wanted  them  done. 

Crossley  had  been  brought  up  to  think  that  every 
thing  he  wanted  he  could  have.  The  fault  was 
largely  with  his  parents.  They  gave  him  every- 
thing he  asked  for  and  denied  him  nothing.  Once  in 
a  while  his  parents  would  try  to  curb  his  desire  for 
one  thing  or  another,  and  then  Crossley  would  pout 
and  his  parents  gave  in. 

This  gave  Crossley  a  very  wrong  idea  of  the 
world  in  general.  But  he  was  to  find  that  there  were 
other  people  in  the  world  besides  himself  and  that 
they  had  ideas  of  their  own  and  that  many  of  them 
were  just  as  selfish  in  their  ideas  as  he  was.  When 
he  met  this  kind  of  a  fellow  he  got  furiously  angry. 

When  he  came  to  Lowell  he  naturally  thought 
that  the  son  of  so  wealthy  a  man  as  his  father  would 
receive  special  attention  by  the  college  people  and 
students.  When  he  found  out  that  merit  alone 
counted  in  Lowell  affairs,  he  was  furious.  When 
he  saw  some  fellow  who  could  do  some  one  thing 
better  than  he  could  and  who,  therefore,  received 
the  attention  which  his  accomplishment  warranted, 
he  became  very  jealous. 

When  he  wanted  anything  that  came  to  him  as  a 
57 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

desire,  he  would  stop  at  nothing  in  his  efforts  to 
get  it,  by  hook  or  crook. 

The  result  of  it  all  was  that  after  he  had  been  at 
college  for  a  few  months  he  had  not  done  anything 
worth  while  for  himself,  and  outside  of  a  small  num- 
ber of  fellows  who  were  brought  up  like  himself  he 
had  not  made  many  friends  who  would  do  him  any 
good. 

One  of  the  things  he  asked  his  father  for  in  the 
early  spring  was  a  new  automobile.  His  father  would 
just  as  soon  have  sent  it  as  not,  but  he  had  been 
reading  something  about  other  boys  doing  wonderful 
things  in  football  at  college,  and  he  was  disappointed 
that  his  son  wasn't  in  it.  So  he  had  what  to  him 
was  a  brilliant  idea,  and  he  wrote  his  son  that  he 
would  present  him  with  a  new  $15,000  imported  car 
the  day  he  was  named  for  the  Varsity.  This  looked 
easy  to  Crossley. 

At  home,  Crossley,  the  rich  man's  son,  had  bought 
the  suits  for  the  High  School  nine.  His  father  had 
fixed  up  a  fine  ball  park  for  the  boys  to  play  in  and 
he  had  done  all  this  because  his  son  had  asked  him 
to  and  because  he  had  insisted  upon  it. 

Of  course,  Crossley  had  a  right,  under  the  circum- 
stances, to  say  which  position  on  the  team  he  would 
play,  and  he  had  promptly  selected  the  job  as  pitcher. 
At  first  he  was  no  good  at  all,  but  he  hired  a  profes- 
sional player  to  teach  him  and  at  the  end  of  the  year 
he  had  developed  into  a  pretty  good  pitcher.  In 
fact,  he  might  easily  have  become  a  first-class  flinger 
if  his  habits  had  been  steady.  Crossley  had  come  to 


HAL   AND    CROSSLEY 

Lowell  from  White  College,  a  little  school  in  the 
West,  and  he  had  been  the  pitcher  for  the  team  there. 

When  Hughie  first  began  to  take  notice  of  Crossley 
he  couldn't  understand  how  a  fellow  could  do  so 
well  one  day  and  so  poorly  another.  It  puzzled 
him  a  good  deal.  He  finally  wrote  to  a  friend  who 
was  coach  at  White  College  and  from  him  he  found 
out  what  the  trouble  was.  Crossley  had  been  a 
good  pitcher  for  White.  As  good  as  they  ever  had, 
but  he  would  not  observe  the  training  rules  and  he 
would  smoke  cigarettes  and  take  an  occasional  drink. 
This  made  him  erratic  and  unreliable  at  times. 

Furthermore,  he  had  a  terribly  jealous  disposition 
and  bad  temper  and  couldn't  stand  it  to  have  any- 
body but  himself  praised  when  he  was  around. 
Hughie's  friend  doubted  very  much  if  Crossley 
would  be  of  any  real  service  at  Lowell,  especially  if 
he  continued  his  habits  there  as  at  White. 

Hughie  read  this  with  a  good  deal  of  interest  but 
Crossley  had  shown  up  pretty  well  in  practice  and 
Jenkins  was  inclined  to  think  that  the  boy  might  have 
gotten  over  his  childishness  since,  being  at  Lowell. 
So  Hughie  decided  to  reserve  his  judgment. 

When  the  first  Varsity  list  was  made  up  a  few 
days  later,  Hughie  and  the  coaches  had  finally  to 
decide  between  Crossley  and  Hal  as  left-hand 
pitchers.  They  both  showed  up  about  the  same  in 
the  box  and  the  decision  was  finally  made  in  Hal's 
favor.  So  his  name  went  on  the  list  and  Crossley 
was  sent  to  the  second  squad. 

Now  Crossley  had  wanted  this  automobile  very 
59 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

much  and  he  was  disappointed.  He  felt  that  Case 
had  beat  him  out  of  the  position.  He  became  furi- 
ously jealous  and  made  a  resolution  that  he  would 
"  get "  Hal  in  one  way  or  another.  What  the  way 
was  he  himself  did  not  know,  but  he  had  a  cunning 
mind  and  he  decided  to  lay  some  deep  plans  to 
undermine  Hal,  and  then  he  would  get  the  job  and 
the  auto. 

A  day  or  two  after  the  Colfax  game,  the  two 
squads  were  lined  up  for  general  practice.  The 
practice  was  principally  devoted  to  batting  and  base 
running.  One  squad  would  take  the  field  lined  up  in 
the  regular  positions,  and  the  other  at  bat.  Each 
batter  remained  at  the  plate  until  he  got  a  hit.  Then 
he  ran  to  first  of  course.  From  there  he  was  expected 
to  steal  his  way  round  the  bases. 

Of  course  it  is  hard  to  steal  a  base  when  the  other 
side  knows  what  you  are  going  to  do,  but  stealing 
bases  is  a  very  important  part  of  the  game.  Ever- 
son  was  on  the  lines  helping  Hughie  instructing  on 
base  stealing.  And  squad  No.  2  was  at  bat.  Hal 
had  been  asked  to  see  what  he  could  do  at  the  second 
bag.  A  few  minutes  afterward  Crossley  came  up 
for  his  turn  at  bat,  and  made  a  hit  and  went  to  first. 
Then  Hughie,  who  was  on  the  coaching  line  back  of 
first,  told  him  to  steal  on  the  next  ball  pitched. 
Crossley  was  a  good  runner  and  Hal  was  not  used 
to  the  position.  He  had  stuck  to  the  bag  the  way 
first  basemen  do,  to  receive  the  throw  from  the 
catcher.  The  catcher  threw  quickly  to  Hal  who  had 
the  ball  in  his  hand  waiting  for  Crossley  when  the 

60 


HAL   AND    CROSSLEY 

latter  was  still  fifteen  feet  from  the  base.  The  nat- 
ural thing  for  Crossley  to  have  done  was  to  slide. 
Instead  he  came  the  rest  of  the  way  standing  up,  and 
when  he  was  five  feet  from  the  bag  he  gave  a  jump 
for  the  bag,  and  landed  wtih  both  feet,  spikes  and 
all,  on  HaPs  right  foot,  cutting  him  badly,  and  knock- 
ing him  down.  They  both  rolled  over  in  the  dirt, 
and  Hal  had  to  be  picked  up  and  carried  from 
the  field. 

Hughie  and  Everson  had  hold  of  Crossley  and 
were  calling  him  various  kinds  of  names  for  such 
bone-headed  conduct — for  once  in  their  lives  both 
of  these  boys  had  been  fooled — they  thought  what 
they  had  seen  was  Crossley's  idea  of  stealing  a  base 
and  were  wondering  where  he  got  such  an  idea. 

Hal  himself  as  he  was  Carried  from  the  field  by 
Hans,  thought  it  was  his  own  fault  standing  on 
second  base  as  he  did  with  the  ball  in  his  hands, 
instead  of  running  up,  the  line  out  of  the  path  of  the 
runner  and  touching  him  out  before  he  got  to  the  bag. 

Hal  blamed  no  one  but  himself,  but  Hans,  while 
he  said  nothing,  had  seen  the  look  in  Crossley's  eye 
as  he  started  for  second,  and  had  watched  him  all  the 
way.  He  had  noted  particularly  the  viciousness  of 
Crossley's  jump  and  the  care  with  which  he  brought 
his  feet  down  on  the  right  spot  and  while  he  knew 
of  no  reason  why  Crossley  should  have  it  in  for  Hal, 
he  knew  there  was  something  back  of  it.  HaPs  foot 
was  pretty  badly  cut,  but  the  doctor  fixed  him  up, 
sent  him  home  in  a  carriage  and  told  him  he'd  better 
not  put  his  uniform  on  for  three  or  four  days. 

61 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

He  was  out  next  day,  with  a  cane,  and  his  foot 
did  not  hurt  him  particularly.  He  went  to  the  ball 
grounds  and  watched  the  boys  practice  and  he  got  to 
thinking  that  he  hadn't  counted  on  being  injured. 


He  had  been  spiked  before,  however,  and  he  felt 
that  with  proper  care  he  would  be  back  in  the  game 
again  soon,  and  not  knowing  that  he  had  an  enemy, 
he  had  no  reason  for  not  feeling  good. 


62 


CHAPTER    VIII 

BAD   NEWS    FROM    HOME   AND   FLIGHT 

HAL,  in  fact,  was  feeling  very  good  about  this 
time.  The  winter's  cold  had  given  way  to  the  rare 
warmth  of  the  Eastern  spring.  The  grass  was  green, 
the  trees  were  in  leaf,  the  sun  was  just  right — not 
too  warm — like  his  own  balmy  California.  He  was 
making  friends  among  the  students,  his  prospects  of 
getting  into  some  of  the  big  games  were  very  good — 
he  was  happy.  He  had  a  good  chum  in  Hagner, 
whose  more  extended  experience  with  the  hard 
knocks  of  the  world  had  made  him  wise  for  his  age, 
and  he  was  a  good  adviser  for  Hal. 

You  see  Hagner  had  worked  for  everything  he 
had  gotten  in  the  world.  He  couldn't  remember 
when  he  didn't  work.  When  he  was  going  to  Gram- 
mar School  he  sold  papers  at  night  and  Saturdays. 
In  the  mornings  he  had  to  get  up  early  and  deliver 
milk  to  the  few  people  who  could  be  induced  to 
patronize  the  Hagner  dairy  which  consisted  of  two 
cows  only — and  whose  entire  output  didn't  warrant 
a  wagon  or  bottles — so  Hans  delivered  the  milk  in 
tin  pails. 

One  summer  he  worked  in  a  barber  shop,  because 
that  was  the  only  thing  that  he  could  find  to  do 

63 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

around  the  little  town  where  he  lived.  When  he 
got  into  High  School  he  gave  up  the  milk  and  paper 
business  to  a  younger  brother  and  spent  his  time 
clerking  in  a  grocery  store  every  evening  and  on  Sat- 
urdays, and  made  enough  money  that  way,  so  that  his 
parents  were  content  to  let  him  follow  out  his  am- 
bition to  secure  an  education. 

On  Sundays  he  played  baseball  when  it  was  base- 
ball weather  and  in  Texas  where  he  lived  it  was  that 
kind  of  weather  nearly  all  the  year  round.  That's 
where  he  learned  to  like  the  game  and  also  where  he 
learned  the  first  principles  of  it.  After  he  had  been 
graduated  from  the  High  School  he  went  to  Wahoo 
College,  which  was  only  fifty  miles  from  his  home. 

It  was  a  little  more  than  a  preparatory  institution, 
although  the  course  of  study  was  broad  enough  so 
that  a  graduate  from  there  could  enter  Lowell  with- 
out further  examination.  The  summer  before  go- 
ing to  Wahoo  College  Hagner  had  sold  books — was 
a  real  book  agent — and  he  made  enough  money  in 
the  three  months  to  keep  him  at  college  for  a  year. 
The  expenses  at  Wahoo  were  not  large,  and  there 
was  something  left  over  for  his  folks.  This  he  did 
every  year  while  at  Wahoo,  so  that  he  was  able  to 
give  all  of  his  time  at  school  to  his  studies,  and  base- 
ball. He  learned  to  love  the  game  as  nothing  else 
in  the  world.  He  found  he  had  a  certain  naturalness 
which  few  boys  possess.  He  seemed  instinctively  to 
do  the  right  thing  at  the  right  time,  and  this  developed 
a  great  deal  of  confidence  in  himself.  His  great- 
est ambition  was  to  have  a  fine  education,  but  as  a 


NEWS    FROM    HOME   AND    FLIGHT 

small  boy  it  didn't  look  as  though  that  would  ever 
come.  But  little  by  little,  as  he  did  the  things  he 
had  to  do,  he  found  he  was  getting  there. 

He  had  gone  through  High  School  and  made  his 
own  way,  and  at  Wahoo  College  he  still  made  his 
own  way,  getting  stronger  and  more  confidence  in 
himself  every  day.  He  stood  well  in  his  studies  and 
he  got  his  good  marks  by  hard  work  and  constant 
application. 

On  the  little  college  team  Hans  was  quite  a  won- 
der. What  ability  he  displayed  there  he  thought 
was  all  natural. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  he  studied  the  game  of  base- 
ball as  hard  as  he  did  his  Caesar.  He  developed 
a  lot  of  ability  as  a  batter  but  he  got  it  by  studying 
how  to  hold  his  bat,  how  to  stand  up  at  the  plate, 
by  watching  every  movement  of  the  pitcher,  and  keep- 
ing his  eye  on  the  ball  all  the  time  and  by  learning 
not  to  be  afraid  of  being  hit. 

So  by  the  time  he  had  arrived  at  Lowell  he  had  a 
lot  of  confidence  in  himself.  He  knew  he  could 
get  out  at  any  time  and  make  a  living  as  a  salesman. 
His  confidence  and  earnestness  were  a  great  help  to 
him  in  that  line,  as  they  were  in  everything,  and 
Hagner  had  gotten  to  the  point,  even  though  only 
twenty-four,  where  he  was  absolutely  sure  of  himself, 
and  he  didn't  have  to  worry  about  anything  but  how 
to  make  the  most  of  his  time  at  the  University — how 
to  get  the  most  out  of  his  studies  and  how  to  have 
the  most  fun  as  time  offered. 

For  this  reason  he  was  a  good  deal  of  help  to  Hal 
65 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

who  had  never  had  to  hustle  for  himself,  although, 
as  he  knew,  his  folks  had  pinched  and  saved  in  order 
to  give  him  this  first  year  at  Lowell.  His  folks  had 
been  sending  him  the  funds  he  absolutely  needed 
every  month,  with  a  little  pocket  money  besides, 
which  Hal  spent  carefully.  He  was  getting  into 
the  habit  of  being  economical  and  Hagner's  self-re- 
liance and  confidence  spurred  him  on. 

They  would  talk  these  things  over  among  them- 
selves often.  Hal  knew  that  if  he  was  to  be  at 
Lowell  the  next  year  he  would  have  to  rely  on  his 
folks  again  or  else  win  one  of  those  scholarships. 

"  Better  work  for  the  Scholarship,"  said  Hans. 
"  It  don't  pay  to  owe  anybody,  even  if  it  is  your 
own  folks.  From  what  I  have  learned  it  is  pretty 
hard  for  them  to  send  you  this  money  every  month, 
anyhow.  I  don't  think  I  would  have  worked  nearly 
so  hard  at  school  if  I  had  been  spending  some  one 
else's  money.  It  hasn't  been  easy  work  for  me  to  sell 
books  every  summer,  but  I've  done  it.  I  don't  like 
the  work  very  well,  and  now  that  this  chance  of  a 
scholarship  is  in  sight,  I  am  going  to  work  my  toes 
off  if  necessary,  to  land  one  of  them;  I  think  I'll  get 
it,  too,  if  I  don't  break  my  leg  or  something." 

"  That's  a  fine  thing  for  you,  of  course,"  re- 
sponded Hal,  "  because  you  have  a  regular  position 
on  the  team  right  now,  and  there's  no  one  to  take  it 
away  from  you,  while  I  am  only  a  substitute  pitcher 
and  general  utility  man,  who  probably  won't  get  a 
chance  to  play  in  any  of  the  big  games  at  all." 

It  was  plain  that  Hal  became  discouraged  from 
66 


NEWS    FROM    HOME    AND    FLIGHT 

the  talk.  But  he  felt  absolutely  certain  that  he  could 
jump  in  and  take  the  laurels  away  from  any  pitcher 
they  had,  if  he  could  only  get  in  enough  games  to 
get  accustomed  to  the  big  crowds  and  the  surround- 
ings. But  the  season  was  coming  along  and  Black 
and  Radams  were  doing  the  twirling  and  doing  it 
well,  too. 

Then,  unexpectedly,  one  morning  there  came  a  let- 
ter from  home  that  Hal's  father  had  been  taken  sick 
and  they  had  to  use  a  little  of  the  money  from  HaPs 
college  fund  to  tide  them  over  and  Hal  would  have 
to  get  along  with  about  half  his  allowance  for  a 
month,  anyhow. 

This  was  a  shock  to  Hal.  Not  so  much  the  money 
part,  but  his  father's  sickness.  He  hated  to  think 
of  his  father  being  sick  and  he  not  at  home.  Then 
he  thought  of  the  money,  and  his  first  idea  was  to 
get  on  a  train  for  California.  Yes!  That's  what 
he  would  have  to  do.  He  couldn't  think  of  staying 
at  Lowell  any  longer,  spending  his  father's  hard- 
earned  money.  What  he  ought  to  be  doing  was 
what  Hans  had  done.  He  should  learn  how  to  earn 
money  and  when  he  had  done  that,  get  his  education. 

He  felt  this  was  a  decision  that  should  be  acted  on 
at  once.  He  decided  to  pack  up  right  away.  He 
didn't  stop  to  think  he  didn't  have  anything  like  the 
amount  necessary  to  pay  his  fare  home.  Hans  wasn't 
in  his  room  and  wasn't  to  be  back  until  three  o'clock, 
so  he  thought  in  his  excitement  that  he  would  pack 
hurriedly  and  get  out  without  seeing  anybody.  He 
did  so. 


IN    THE    NINTH 

He  wasn't  going  to  be  dependent  on  his  folks  or 
anyone  else  for  another  day.  He  left  a  note  for 
Hans.  This  was  at  noon.  He  hunted  up  a  time 
table  and  found  that  the  train  for  Boston  to  catch 
the  through  train  for  the  West  left  at  three  o'clock. 
He  would  buy  his  ticket  and  go.  He  had  no 
thought  of  changing  his  mind.  He  went  to  the 
depot  to  get  his  ticket.  All  at  once,  he  realized  that 
he  hadn't  any  money.  What  was  he  to  do  now? 
It  was  one  o'clock  already.  Hal's  mind  worked 
quickly.  How  could  he  get  two  hundred  dollars? 
Quickly  he  ran  over  in  his  mind  the  things  he  had 
that  he  might  raise  some  money  on.  There  was  only 
one  thing  that  was  worth  anything  like  that  sum. 
At  first  he  couldn't  think  of  parting  with  that.  It 
was  his  watch. 

He  had  never  told  the  story  of  the  watch  in  Lowell 
to  anyone  but  Hans.  The  previous  winter  while 
swimming  in  the  lake  at  home  in  California,  a  row- 
boat  in  which  there  had  been  a  man  and  two  little 
girls,  was  suddenly  capsized.  Hal  was  a  regular 
"  fish  "  in  the  water,  just  as  natural  there  as  in  any- 
thing that  he  understood  at  all,  and  he  swam  to  the 
rescue.  He  caught  one  of  the  little  girls  and  held  her 
up  with  one  hand  while  he  righted  the  boat,  and  he 
then  put  her  in. 

By  that  time  the  man,  who  was  the  father  of  the 
little  girls,  had  the  other  one  safe,  but  he  was  a  big 
man  and  fat  and  couldn't  swim  very  well,  so  Hal 
helped  them  both  into  the  boat  again,  jumped  in 
himself  and  rowed  them  back  to  the  shore  near  the 

68 


NEWS    FROM    HOME   AND   FLIGHT 

hotel  where  they  were  stopping.  They  were  tour- 
ists from  the  East  and  wanted  to  reward  Hal,  but 
he  didn't  think  he  had  done  anything  so  great,  so 
he  ran  away.  That  was  the  last  Hal  heard  of  it, 
until  a  month  later  a  package  came  by  express  ad- 
dressed to  him.  He  opened  it  and  found  a  letter 
and  a  very  fine  gold  watch  with  two  large  diamonds 
in  the  case. 

The  letter  was  from  the  father  of  the  two  little 
girls.  He  said  he  had  found  out  who  Hal  was  and 
begged  him  to  accept  the  watch  in  token  of  the 
sender's  gratitude  for  the  rescue  of  the  little  girls. 
They  were  twins  and  exactly  alike — so  were  the  dia- 
monds in  the  case.  Hal  hardly  ever  wore  the  watch 
and  so  very  few  knew  he  had  it.  Now  he  decided 
to  pawn  it  if  he  could  borrow  enough  on  it  to  get 
to  California. 

He  had  never  been  in  a  pawnshop  in  his  life  and 
he  was  nervous.  Besides,  his  time  was  getting  short. 
He  rushed  out  of  the  station  and  asked  the  first  per- 
son he  met  (it  was  Crossley,  although  in  his  excite- 
ment Hal  couldn't  have  told  whether  the  man  was 
black  or  white)  where  there  was  a  pawnshop.  Cross- 
ley  didn't  answer,  because  Hal  hadn't  stopped  for 
an  answer  and  Crossley  himself  was  hurrying.  He 
was  already  talking  to  the  policeman  on  the  corner. 
The  policeman  told  Hal  there  was  a  pawnshop  in 
the  other  end  of  town,  but  that  most  of  the  students 
who  had  to  raise  money  that  way  went  to  Boston. 
Hal  started  out  to  the  pawnshop  the  policeman  told 
him  about,  but  when  he  got  there  he  found  it  closed. 


WON   IN   THE   NINTH 

By  the  time  Hal  got  back  to  the  station  it  was  five 
minutes  of  three.  He  had  decided  to  go  into  Boston 
and  try  to  raise  the  money  there  on  the  watch ;  then 
he  would  go  right  on  home  from  here.  He  checked 
his  trunk,  and  just  then  the  train  drew  into  the  sta- 
tion and  he  got  aboard. 

Meantime  Hans  had  arrived  back  at  the  house 
thirty  minutes  before  he  was  expected.  He  straight- 
ened things  around  in  his  room,  put  his  books  away 
and  after  a  minute  or  two  found  HaPs  note.  The 
note  just  said  that  he  had  bad  news  from  home,  his 
father  was  sick,  and  they  couldn't  send  him  his  al- 
lowance. He  was  going.  He  was  sorry  he  couldn't 
see  Hans  again,  but  he  was  discouraged  and  said  he 
would  write.  Would  Hans  tell  Hughie  the  circum- 
stances, etc.?  He  was  leaving  Boston  on  the  after- 
noon train. 

Hans  knew  the  train  left  at  three.  He  pulled  out 
his  watch  and  saw  it  was  fifteen  minutes  of  three.  It 
took  sixteen  minutes  to  get  to  the  station  on  the  car. 
The  train  might  be  on  time. 

The  note  hadn't  sounded  quite  right  to  Hans. 
Hal  ought  not  leave  the  University  without  first  reg- 
istering out  at  the  office  of  the  college.  He  thought 
there  might  be  something  else.  Above  all  he  didn't 
want  Hal  to  go  to  California  without  seeing  him 
again.  He  was  very  fond  of  his  chum.  He  thought 
of  these  things  as  he  was  gliding  down  the  front 
steps.  To  catch  that  train  he  would  have  to  beat  the 
car.  That  meant  to  do  it  on  foot. 

Hans  started  to  run.  Every  block  put  behind 
70 


NEWS    FROM    HOME    AND    FLIGHT 

him  was  like  a  stolen  base  to  him.  By  running 
every  block  he  managed  to  catch  the  last  car  of  the 
train  just  as  she  pulled  out.  There  he  stopped  long 


enough  to  catch  his  breath  for  he  knew  they  couldn't 
get  off  now  since  it  was  an  express  to  Boston  with- 
out stop. 

Hans  walked  into  the  car.  His  first  glance 
showed  him  a  blue  hat  and  suit  that  looked  like 
Hal's,  and  as  he  came  up  to  the  seat  he  was  just 
about  to  slap  him  on  the  back  with  a  "  Hello !  Hal !  " 
when  he  saw  the  fellow  had  on  blue  glasses.  He 
stopped,  then  saw  that  the  face  wasn't  Hal's  and  went 
on  through  the  train,  glad  that  he  hadn't  slapped 
a  stranger's  back  in  his  best  college  style. 

71 


WON    IN    THE   NINTH 

Up  in  the  car  next  to  the  smoker  he  found  Hal. 
He  was  sitting  by  the  window  resting  his  chin  on  his 
hands  and  in  his  hand  he  held  the  letter  from  his 
mother  which  he  was  rereading. 

"  You  look  mighty  glum  for  a  fellow  that's  going 
home,"  said  Hans,  tapping  him  gently  on  the  shoul- 
der. "What's  up?" 

Hal  looked  up  in  surprise  at  the  familiar  voice  and 
turned  to  look  at  Hans. 

"  Thought  you  were  not  going  to  be  back  until 
three,"  remarked  Hal.  "  I  am  glad  you  got  back 
in  time  to  catch  the  train,  though,  because  I  hated  to 
leave  without  bidding  you  good-by." 

"  Had  to  run  all  the  way  to  the  station  to  catch  it. 
Thought  I'd  better  see  you  before  you  left  for  good. 
Would  like  to  know  the  real  reason.  Don't  look 
well  to  leave  a  college  like  Lowell  without  some  ex- 
planation to  the  office.  What's  the  trouble,  any- 
how? "  burst  out  Hans,  in  the  short  quick  sentences 
which  he  used  when  he  was  much  interested. 

"  This,"  said  Hal,  handing  him  the  letter.  Hans 
read  it  over  and  then  he  read  it  again.  "  Awfully 
sorry  your  father  is  sick,  Hal,"  he  said,  "  but  I  don't 
see  anything  about  wanting  you  to  come  home. 
Why,  this  letter  don't  even  say  that  he  is  very  sick. 
Don't  see  any  reason  for  going  home  on  that  kind  of 
a  letter." 

"  Well,  but  don't  you  see,"  broke  in  Hal,  "  they 
had  to  break  into  the  college  fund  to  pay  the  extra 
bills  and  I  must  get  along  on  less.  I  don't  mind  that, 
but  this  is  the  first  time  I  knew  that  all  my  folks  have 

72 


NEWS    FROM    HOME    AND    FLIGHT 

saved  up  in  all  these  years  was  to  go  for  my  start 
in  college,  and  when  I  think  of  a  fellow  like  you, 
Hans,  who  has  made  his  own  money  and  think  that 
I  am  here  spending  my  parents'  savings,  I  can't  stand 
it  another  minute,  so  I'm  going  home  to  learn  how  to 
make  enough  to  pay  my  own  way  through  college." 

"  And  spoil  your  parents'  greatest  happiness,"  said 
Hans.  "  Let  me  tell  you  something.  My  folks 
were  poorer  than  yours.  They  were  so  poor  they 
couldn't  think  of  educating  their  children.  Their 
greatest  happiness  was  in  work  and  seeing  others 
work  with  their  hands.  They  couldn't  realize  what 
education  would  do.  They  had  no  way  of  realizing 
it.  Somehow  or  other  I  got  the  ambition  to  have 
an  education.  In  order  to  do  that  I  had  to  earn 
enough  money  to  pay  into  the  family  what  I  could 
have  made  working  daytimes. 

"  This  was  only  after  I  was  old  enough  to  work  for 
others.  So  I  worked  early  in  the  morning  and  late 
at  night  and  made  up  to  the  folks  the  time  I  spent  at 
school.  Now  your  parents  know  the  value  an  edu- 
cation will  be  to  you.  Your  father  is  a  Lowell  grad- 
uate and  they  have  been  saving  this  money  for  years 
in  order  to  spend  it  on  your  first  year  at  Lowell,  trust- 
ing to  luck  that  some  way  will  be  found  to  let  you  go 
on.  It's  been  their  one  great  happiness  and  they'd 
probably  feel  mighty  bad  to  see  you  turn  up  at  home 
without  their  sending  for  you. 

"  All  you  ought  to  be  thinking  of  is  how  to  get  the 
most  out  of  it  this  year  and  get  ready  to  make  the 
burden  lighter  for  the  next  year.  Winning  one  of 

73 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

the  Scholarship  Prizes  would  do  it  of  course,  but 
there  are  other  ways." 

*  You  put  it  up  to  me  in  a  different  way  than  I 
had  thought  of  it  before,"  said  Hal.  "  If  I  thought 
I  could  earn  some  money  working  nights,  I  think  I'd 
try  it." 

"  If  you  think  that  way  about  it,  I'll  see  what  I 
can  do.  We'll  go  round  to  the  employment  depart- 
ment of  the  University  in  the  morning  and  see  if 
they  haven't  something  to  do  for  a  poor  and  needy 
student  to  help  him  earn  his  way,  especially  one  who 
is  utility  pitcher  on  the  Varsity.  Meantime  I  guess 
we  had  better  send  a  telegram  to  your  folks  asking  if 
your  father  is  better  or  worse.  We  can  have  an  an- 
swer by  morning." 

"  I  think  that  would  be  a  good  idea,"  said  Hal, 
very  much  cheered  by  his  talk  with  Hans  and  his 
suggestions.  Come  to  think  of  it,  though,  as  you 
say,  if  he  was  sick  enough  to  make  them  want  me, 
they  would  telegraph,  anyhow,  I  suppose." 

"  By  the  way,"  said  Hans.  "  Where  did  you  ex- 
pect to  get  the  money  to  get  home  on?  " 

And  then  Hal  told  him  his  idea  about  pawning 
his  watch,  of  his  effort  to  do  so  before  he  started 
for  Boston,  and  that  he  had  intended  to  do  it  in 
Boston. 

"  I  wouldn't  do  that  ever  until  I  had  to,"  re- 
marked Hans.  "  Anyway  not  to  go  home  on.  If 
you  can  pawn  it  for  enough  to  get  to  California  on, 
you  can  pawn  it  for  enough  to  keep  you  going  at 
school  for  the  rest  of  the  term.  I  wouldn't  do  it 

74 


NEWS    FROM    HOME    AND    FLIGHT 

until  I  had  to,  though.  It's  a  bad  practice  to  get 
into,  although  I  never  was  in  a  pawnshop  in  my  life, 
and  hope  I  never  have  to  go." 

"  I  wonder  how  much  they  would  loan  me  on  the 
watch,"  said  Hal.  "  Suppose  we  try  it  and  see  when 
we  get  to  Boston.  Just  to  see  what  it  is  worth, 
anyhow." 

"  All  right,"  said  Hans,  and  just  then  the  brake- 
man  called  out  Boston  and  in  a  minute  or  two  the 
train  stopped.  Neither  had  ever  been  in  Boston 
before  except  to  pass  through  on  his  way  to  the 
University.  They  thought  they  might  as  well  take 
in  a  show  in  the  evening  and  take  the  twelve  o'clock 
train  back  to  the  University,  which  would  land  them 
there  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  They  were 
walking  up  to  the  platform  to  go  out  through  the 
depot  when  they  met  Arthur  Delvin  of  the  Varsity 
going  through  the  station. 

"  Hello,  fellows,"  said  Arthur.  "  What  are  you 
doing  in  the  city?  By  George,  I  am  glad  to  see  you ! 
Want  you  to  come  up  to  the  house  for  dinner  and 
then  we'll  take  in  a  show.  Wait  for  me  in  the  sta- 
tion, will  you  ?  I  have  to  go  out  and  find  a  cousin 
of  mine  who  is  coming  in  and  going  right  away  again, 
and  I  have  to  see  that  she  gets  started  right.  She's 
on  this  train.  I'll  see  you  in  about  fifteen  minutes." 
And  off  he  went. 

There  was  nothing  to  do  but  wait  and  the  boys 
decided  that  if  they  were  going  to  see  some  of  Bos- 
ton, Arthur  would  be  as  fine  a  fellow  as  any  to  show 
them  around,  and  they  went  into  the  station  to  wait. 

75 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Meantime  Hal  had  been  wondering  what  his 
watch  was  really  worth  and  as  he  walked  to  the 
door  of  the  station  he  saw  a  sign  "  Pawnbroker  " 
with  three  gold  balls  over  the  door.  This  was  just 
like  the  place  he  saw  at  the  University  town  earlier 
in  the  day,  and  looking  around  for  Hans  who  was 
sitting  on  a  bench  absorbed  in  a  newspaper,  he  quietly 


slipped  across  the  street  into  the  pawnbroker's  shop, 
and  pulling  out  his  watch  said  to  the  pawnbroker: 

"  How  much  will  you  loan  me  on  this?"  He 
wondered  if  that  was  the  way  people  generally  talked 
when  they  tried  to  pawn  things. 

The  man  took  the  watch  and  looked  at  it  carefully. 
He  examined  the  diamonds  with  a  magnifying  glass, 
he  opened  the  case  and  examined  the  works,  then  he 

76 


As  he  did  so  a  young  fellow  stooped  down  and  picked  up  an  envelope  which  had 
fallen  out  of  Hal's  pocket." 


NEWS    FROM    HOME   AND    FLIGHT 

laid  it  down  on  the  counter  and  said  "  Four  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars." 

Hal  wondered  if  he  had  heard  rightly.  "  How 
much  did  you  say?  "  he  asked. 

"  Four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,"  answered  the 
man.  "  She's  worth  a  thousand." 

"  Thanks,"  said  Hal,  picking  up  the  watch  and 
putting  it  in  his  pocket.  "  I  just  wanted  to  know 
how  much  it  was  worth." 

"  Come  in  any  time,"  said  the  man,  as  Hal  went 
out  of  the  door.  Outside  he  drew  a  long  breath, 
took  out  his  handkerchief  to  wipe  the  perspiration 
from  his  forehead,  and  started  across  the  street.  As 
he  did  so,  a  young  fellow  who  had  been  standing  in 
the  shadow  of  the  doorway  stooped  down  and  picked 
up  an  envelope  which  had  fallen  out  of  Hal's  pocket 
when  he  took  out  his  handkerchief,  looked  at  it,  gave 
a  start  and  went  on  down  the  street. 

Hal  went  into  the  depot,  and  as  he  hadn't  been 
gone  five  minutes  in  all,  Hans  hadn't  missed  him. 
Hal  told  him  where  he'd  been,  also  what  the  pawn- 
broker had  said,  and  as  he  named  the  amount  Hans' 
eyes  opened  a  good  deal  wider,  for  he  had  no  idea 
the  watch  was  so  valuable. 

Presently  Arthur  came  up  and  the  boys  told  him 
frankly  how  they  happened  to  be  in  town,  and  asked 
him  to  say  nothing  about  it,  which  he  agreed  to,  as 
Hal  had  now  decided  to  go  back  to  school.  Arthur 
said  he  had  come  to  town  on  the  morning  train  to 
do  some  shopping. 

So  they  went  home  with  Arthur,  and  having  some 

77 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

one  who  was  familiar  with  the  city  to  pilot  them,  they 
weren't  worried  about  that.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Delvin 
were  glad  to  have  a  couple  of  Arthur's  team  mates 
to  dinner,  and  they  went  to  a  vaudeville  show,  which 
was  a  new  experience  for  Hans.  They  enjoyed  the 
evening  immensely  and  after  a  two-hour  ride  on  the 
train  got  home  pretty  tired,  but  none  the  worse  for 
the  experience. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE    DIAMOND   MEDAL 

THERE  was  plenty  of  excitement  in  and  about 
Lowell  the  morning  after  Hans  and  Hal  returned 
from  Boston.  In  fact  there  had  been  a  good  deal 
of  excitement  the  evening  before,  but  of  this  Hans 
and  Hal  knew  nothing.  They  were  in  Boston  hav- 
ing a  good  time  with  Delvin. 

"  What's  all  the  bustle  about?  "  asked  Hal  as  he 
and  Hans  entered  the  dining  room  at  training  table 
next  morning. 

"What!  haven't  you  heard ?"  asked  Robb,  to 
whom  more  than  anyone  else  Hal  seemed  to  be  talk- 
ing. '  The  diamond  studded  Championship  Medal 
was  stolen  from  the  safe  of  the  University  treasurer's 
office  yesterday  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock. 
There  is  no  clue  of  any  kind.  Orders  are  from  the 
faculty  that  every  student  in  the  University  shall  re- 
port at  the  dean's  study  before  six  o'clock  to-night, 
and  explain  his  movements  after  twelve  o'clock  yes- 
terday. Seems  funny  that  they  should  suspect  any 
student  of  doing  it." 

;<  Wasn't  there  some  one  in  the  room  where  the 
safe  is  all  day  yesterday?  "  asked  Hal. 

"  What  makes  them  think  it  was  stolen  between 
79 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

twelve  and  one  o'clock?  How  do  they  know  it 
wasn't  stolen  a  week  or  a  month  ago?  "  asked  Hans. 
"  It  seems  that  the  secretary  of  the  University 
brought  it  back  from  the  jewelers  at  noon  yesterday. 
It  had  been  taken  there  to  have  one  of  the  settings 
tightened.  He  had  put  it  in  the  safe.  A  few 
minutes  after  one  o'clock,  Mr.  Williams,  the  treas- 


ib? 


urer,  came  in  and  asked  if  the  medal  had  come  back 
yet.  *  I  just  brought  it  over,'  said  the  secretary,  and 
walked  over  to  the  safe  to  get  it.  It  wasn't  there 
and  he  almost  collapsed. 

"  They  searched  everywhere  a  dozen  times.  It 
couldn't  be  found.  Finally  they  were  forced  to 
conclude  it  had  been  stolen.  Who  could  have  taken 
it?  No  one  but  students  had  called  at  the  office 

80 


THE    DIAMOND    MEDAL 

during  that  hour.  It  was  hard  to  believe  any  student 
could  have  taken  it,  but  they  had  to  admit  the 
possibility. 

"  The  police  were  notified  and  asked  if  they  had 
seen  any  suspicious  characters  around  the  building. 
The  Chief  instructed  all  the  patrolmen  in  town  to 
bring  in  any  suspicious  characters. 

"  Finally  late  last  night,"  continued  Robb,  "  the 
policeman  down  at  the  station  reported  that  shortly 
after  one  o'clock  yesterday  a  young  fellow  had  asked 
to  be  directed  to  a  pawnshop.  He  was  very  much 
excited  and  in  a  hurry.  Might  have  been  a  student, 
but  he  thought  he  was  a  stranger  because  most  stu- 
dents would  know  where  the  pawnshop  was,  even  if 
they  didn't  have  any  business  there. 

"  So  they  have  this  cop  stationed  down  by  the  en- 
trance and  he  is  looking  at  the  students  as  they  go  in 
thinking  he  can  identify  the  fellow  if  he  should  hap- 
pen to  be  a  student." 

"  Seems  silly  to  me,"  remarked  Hans,  "  that  they 
should  think  any  student  of  Lowell  who  would  do  a 
trick  like  that  would  be  so  bone-headed  as  to  try  to 
pawn  it  in  this  town.  I  doubt  if  any  pawnbroker  in 
the  country  would  take  a  thing  like  that.  It  would 
be  recognized  immediately." 

"  He  could  take  out  the  diamonds  and  melt  it  up," 
said  Talkington,  who  had  joined  in  the  discussion. 

Hal's  face  was  white.  He  knew  they  were  look- 
ing for  him,  thinking  that  he  was  the  guilty  party! 
What  should  he  do?  He  could  account  for  all  of 
his  time.  He  would  tell  them  the  exact  facts,  every 

81 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

detail,  even  his  visit  to  the  pawnshop  in  Boston  to  find 
out  what  his  watch  was  worth.  Hans  was  with  him 
all  the  time,  excepting  in  the  pawnshop,  and  so  was 
Delvin  most  of  the  time.  The  pawnbroker  would 
no  doubt  testify  for  him  that  he  simply  made  an  in- 
quiry there  and  pawned  nothing. 

After  breakfast  he  said  to  Hagner  with  as  much 
self-control  as  he  could  muster,  "  Hans,  I'm  the  fel- 
low they  are  after.  When  I  was  crazy  to  get  away 
yesterday  for  home,  and  was  bent  on  pawning  my 
watch,  I  went  up  to  that  policeman  at  the  station  and 
asked  him  where  I  could  find  a  pawnshop." 

"Gee!  "  said  Hans,  "  that  looks  bad,  doesn't  it? 
Yes!  it  looks  bad,  but  only  looks.  You're  all  right. 
Wasn't  the  pawnshop  closed  when  you  got  there? 
Isn't  it  the  only  pawnshop  in  town?  They  can  find 
out  that  it  was  closed,  can't  they?  Wasn't  I  with 
you  all  the  time  in  Boston  and  on  the  way  there  and 
back?  And  wasn't  Delvin  with  us,  too?  " 

"  All  but  during  my  visit  to  the  shop,"  said  Hal, 
"  when  I  learned  the  value  of  my  watch." 

"  Well,"  returned  Hans,  "  the  pawnbroker  will 
know  you  if  it  comes  to  that,  and  can  testify  that  you 
didn't  leave  anything  there." 

"  That's  what  I  thought,"  said  Hal.  "  I  am  going 
right  down  there  and  tell  the  whole  story.  That 
will  let  me  out,  except  that  I  may  have  to  make  an- 
other trip  to  Boston." 

"  I'll  go  along,"  said  Hans. 

So  they  went  on  down.  They  didn't  see  any  po- 
liceman around  outside.  Inside  they  found  Mr.  Wil- 

82 


THE   DIAMOND    MEDAL 

Hams,  the  treasurer,  who  came  to  meet  them.  Hal 
told  him  that  they  had  heard  the  police  were  trying 
to  locate  a  fellow  who  had  asked  one  of  them  to  direct 
him  to  a  pawnshop  yesterday.  He  was  the  fellow, 
and  he  said  he  wanted  to  tell  all  about  it,  which  he  did. 

Mr.  Williams  .was  impressed  with  the  straight- 
forwardness of  his  story  and  told  him  he  needn't 
worry  about  it.  He  felt  sure  it  wasn't  any  student 
that  had  stolen  the  medal.  Only  they  had  to  run 
down  this  clew  and  he  was  sorry  he  had  been  an- 
noyed. Hal  told  him  he  would  like  some  one  to  go 
to  the  pawnbroker  in  Boston  and  verify  what  he 
had  said  about  his  visit  there  just  to  remove  any 
possibility  of  suspicion  that  anyone  might  have  against 
him  on  that  account.  He  knew,  of  course,  it  would 
prove  to  be  as  he  said,  and  that  was  the  only  space  of 
time  he  was  alone  while  in  Boston.  Without  doing 
this,  people  might  suspect  that  both  Hans  and  him- 
self, having  made  such  an  unusual  trip  to  Boston  to- 
gether so  soon  after  the  robbery  occurred,  were  in  it 
and  he  didn't  want  anything  left  undone  to  prove 
that  neither  of  them  was  in  any  way  connected  with 
the  matter  or  subject  to  suspicion. 

Hal  left  with  Hans,  very  much  relieved.  Not 
that  he  had  anything  to  be  worried  over,  but  the  way 
the  matter  had  come  about  had  upset  him  more  than 
he  himself  could  tell,  and  now  that  he  had  explained 
himself  fully,  his  feelings  again  became  normal,  and 
he  went  about  his  work  of  the  day  in  a  much  better 
frame  of  mind  than  he  had  enjoyed  since  he  had 
the  accident. 

83 


CHAPTER    X 

UNDER     SUSPICION 

THE  theft  of  the  medal  was  of  course  the  all-ab- 
sorbing topic  at  all  places  where  students  came  to- 
gether. Hal's  explanation  of  his  intended  flight  and 
the  causes  which  made  him  want  to  know  where  the 
pawnshop  was,  brought  to  an  end  the  clew  which  the 
authorities  had  thought  would  quickly  locate  the 
thief.  There  seemed  to  be  absolutely  no  way  to 
trace  the  culprit. 

A  week  passed  and  Hal's  foot  became  better  and 
he  was  able  to  resume  his  practice  with  the  team. 

On  Friday  evening  Hal  was  in  his  room  doing  his 
studies,  in  order  to  have  them  out  of  the  way,  so  that 
he  could  enjoy  himself  fully  on  Saturday  and  Sun- 
day, without  having  to  think  of  college  work,  when 
he  received  a  note  from  Mr.  Williams,  the  treasurer 
of  the  University,  asking  him  if  he  could  come  down 
for  a  few  minutes.  The  note  was  delivered  by  a 
blue-coated  messenger  boy.  After  reading  it,  he  said 
he  would  go  and  the  messenger  left. 

Hal  went  into  Hans'  room  to  tell  where  he  was 
going,  found  that  he  was  not  in  his  room  and  as 
they  had  planned  to  do  some  studying  together  later 
in  the  evening  he  started  to  write  a  note  on  the  pad  on 

84 


UNDER    SUSPICION 

the  writing  desk.  Then  he  thought  Hans  would 
understand  better  what  was  up  if  he  left  the  treas- 
urer's note  on  Hans'  desk.  He  did  this  and  went 
on  down  to  see  Mr.  Williams. 

When  he  arrived  there  he  found  Mr.  Williams, 
Dr.  Lawrence,  the  president,  and  Mr.  Smith,  the 
secretary,  waiting  for  him.  There  was  nothing  that 
Hal  need  be  nervous  about,  and  he  could  think  of 
nothing  they  could  want  him  for,  unless  perhaps  they 
wanted  to  "  call  him  down  "  for  leaving  the  Univer- 
sity without  explanation. 

On  second  thought  he  made  up  his  mind  that  if 
that  were  the  idea,  they  surely  wouldn't  have  the 
president  of  the  University  on  hand.  Then  he 
thought  that  perhaps  the  president  wanted  to  hear 
his  story  about  the  pawnshop,  etc.,  and  he  wished 
Hans  were  with  him  to  verify  it.  All  this  passed 
through  his  mind  in  the  few  seconds  he  had  to  wait 
until  they  noticed  his  arrival. 

"  Oh,  Case,"  said  Mr.  Williams,  "  we  have  asked 
you  down  here  to-night  to  tell  you  some  important 
news.  First,  the  medal  has  been  found,  and " 

"  I  am  very  glad  it  has  turned  up,"  broke  in  Hal, 
relieved,  "  and  I  appreciate  your  telling  me  in  this 
way,  Mr.  Williams,  because  I  suppose  you  know  I 
have " 

"  Yes,  that  is  one  reason,  Case,"  now  broke  in 
Mr.  Williams,  "  but  there  are  certain  circumstances 
in  connection  with  the  finding  of  the  medal,  which  I 
regret  to  say  will  need  a  little  further  explanation 
on  your  part." 

85 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

'*  Why,  what  do  you  mean?  "  asked  Hal,  growing 
a  little  nervous  at  the  tone  used  by  Mr.  Williams. 

"  I  hope,"  went  on  Mr.  Williams,  "  that  you  have 
an  explanation  which  is  satisfactory.  I  cannot  quite 
bring  myself  to  believe,  after  the  straightforward 
talk  you  made  to  me  last  week,  that  you  had  anything 
to  do  with  the  theft  of  the  medal,  but  the  circum- 
stances of  recovery  demand  an  explanation  from  you. 
When  you  told  me  your  story  the  other  day  you  gave 
me  the  address  of  the  pawnshop  in  Boston  where  you 
went  to  inquire  about  the  value  of  your  watch.  You 
were  so  frank  about  asking  us  to  go  there  and  verify 
your  story  that  I  didn't  think  it  worth  while  to  do  so. 

"  Among  the  methods  used,  however,  by  us  in  our 
efforts  to  recover  the  medal  we  asked  the  Boston  po- 
lice to  visit  all  the  pawnshops  and  see  what  they 
could  find.  This  morning  we  had  word  by  long 
distance  phone  from  Boston,  saying  the  medal  had 
been  found  in  one  of  the  pawnshops  there  and  sug- 
gesting that  we  send  some  one  in  authority  to  bring 
it  back  and  to  go  over  some  facts  in  connec- 
tion with  the  case,  which  might  aid  them  in  locating 
the  culprit.  I  was  going  up  anyhow  and  I  said  I 
would  attend  to  the  matter  myself.  When  I  ar- 
rived at  police  headquarters,  the  chief  took  me  into 
his  private  office.  He  went  to  his  safe  and  when  he 
returned  he  handed  me  the  medal  which  I  now  show 
you  (he  held  up  the  beautiful  medal  in  his  right 
hand)  and  he  also  handed  me  this."  Then  with  his 
left  hand  he  picked  up  an  envelope  which  was  lying 
on  his  desk  and  handed  it  to  Hal. 

86 


UNDER    SUSPICION 

Hal  was  puzzled  because  he  didn't  know  what  that 
could  have  to  do  with  him.  He  looked  up  and 
noticed  all  three  of  the  officers  of  the  University 
watching  his  face  closely.  He  couldn't  understand  it 
and  naturally  became  paler.  It  looked  to  him  like  a 
trap.  Then  he  reached  over  with  his  right  hand  and 
took  the  envelope  which  Mr.  Williams  held  out 
for  him. 

He  felt  that  something  terrible  was  going  to  hap- 
pen and  his  hand  shook.  He  took  the  envelope, 
looked  at  it,  turned  it  over,  looked  at  the  other  side, 
and  gave  a  jump.  What  he  saw  would  make  most 
young  fellows  jump  even  higher  than  Hal  did,  for 
on  the  address  side  of  the  envelope  was  written 

"  HAROLD   CASE, 


California." 

Hal  noticed  at  once  that  it  was  his  own  writing. 
It  was  some  seconds  before  anyone  in  the  room 
spoke.  To  Hal  it  seemed  hours.  Finally,  it  was  he 
himself  who  broke  the  silence. 

"  Where  did  you  get  this?  "  he  asked. 

"  The  police  found  it  with  the  medal  in  the  shop 
where  it  was  pawned,  and  the  broker  said  it  was 
handed  to  him  by  the  fellow  who  pawned  the  medal." 
This  was  said  slowly  in  order  to  give  the  others  a 
chance  to  notice  what  effect  the  words  had  on  Hal. 
"  It  looks  something  like  your  writing,"  said  Mr. 
Williams. 

"  It  is  my  handwriting,"  said  Hal. 

8? 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

"  How  do  you  explain  it?  "  asked  Mr.  Williams. 

"  I  can't  explain  it,"  answered  Hal.  "  I  know 
absolutely  nothing  about  it." 

"  The  medal  and  this  envelope,"  went  on  Mr. 
Williams,  "  were  found  in  the  pawnshop  which  you 
said  you  had  visited  that  night  in  Boston.  After  I 
saw  the  Chief  of  Police  and  he  gave  me  the  medal 
and  the  envelope  he  went  with  me  to  the  pawnshop 
and  when  I  got  there  I  recognized  the  address  which 
you  had  given  me.  Then  we  rode  back  to  the  police 
department  to  interview  the  pawnbroker  who  has 
been  arrested  for  receiving  stolen  property,  and  he 
told  me  this  story. 

"  *  About  five  o'clock  on  Thursday  evening  of  the 
previous  week,  a  young  man  wearing  a  blue  cloth 
hat  and  a  mixed  gray  suit  of  clothes  came  into  my 
place  and  asked  me  how  much  I  would  loan  him  on 
a  watch  which  he  laid  down  on  the  show  case.  I 
picked  it  up  and  saw  two  good-sized  diamonds  in 
the  case.  I  was  attracted  by  the  stones  and  next 
examined  them  with  my  magnifying  glass.  They 
were  exactly  alike  and  I  saw  at  once  they  were  valu- 
able, particularly  to  me  as  I  had  been  asked  that  day 
by  a  customer  to  find  him  two  perfectly  matched 
white  stones. 

"  '  Then  I  examined  the  watch  inside  and  out  and 
saw  that  it  was  also  very  valuable,  and  I  said,  think- 
ing to  get  the  watch  cheap,  since  most  people  who 
pawn  things  do  not  redeem  them,  "  I  will  let  you 
have  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  on  it."  The 
young  fellow  hesitated  and  then  asked:  "  How  much 

88 


UNDER    SUSPICION 

is  it  worth?  "  and  I  said,  "  a  thousand  dollars,"  and 
he  said,  hesitating  again,  "  Thank  you,  I  just  wanted 
to  find  out  how  much  it  is  worth,"  and  hurried  out. 
I  didn't  think  any  more  of  it,  except  to  guess  to  my- 
self that  the  watch  didn't  belong  to  the  young  man. 
About  five  minutes  later  he  came  back  and  I  said, 
"  Well,  you  have  decided  to  let  me  have  the  watch 
anyhow  for  a  while  haven't  you  ?  "  He  looked  at 
me  rather  queerly  and  said  after  hesitating  as  he  did 
before,  "  No,  I  won't  pawn  that."  I  noticed  then 
he  had  on  blue  eyeglasses,  but  couldn't  say  whether 
he  had  them  on  the  first  time  he  called  because  I 
paid  more  attention  to  the  watch  than  to  him. 

"  '  Finally  he  pulled  out  the  medal,  a  very  beauti- 
ful piece,  and  said,  "  I  can  spare  this  better  for  a 
while  than  the  watch  if  you  can  let  me  have  as  much 
on  it."  I  took  it  in  my  hand,  and  noticing  the  in- 
scription on  it,  said:  "  Is  it  yours?  "  "  Of  course,"  he 
replied,  and  as  it  might  easily  be  so  from  the  inscrip- 
tion, and  as  very  few  people  would  take  a  chance  on 
trying  to  pawn  that  kind  of  a  medal  if  it  didn't  belong 
to  them,  I  took  it  and  gave  him  four  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  and  the  ticket.  "  I  may  not  be  able  to 
come  for  this  myself,"  he  said,  "  and  I  might  lose 
the  ticket,  so  make  a  note  that  it  is  not  to  be  delivered 
to  anyone,  even  if  he  has  the  ticket  unless  it  is  ac- 
companied by  an  envelope  like  this  one  with  this 
name  on  it  and  in  his  handwriting."  Then  he  handed 
me  the  envelope  which  I  put  in  the  safe  with  the 
medal,  and  which  I  turned  over  to  the  police  this 
morning.' ' 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

Hal  was  dumfounded.  What  could  he  say  ?  He 
thought  awfully  hard.  Finally  he  was  able  to  say, 
"  But  I  was  with  Hagner  or  with  Hagner  and  Delvin 
all  of  the  time  I  was  in  Boston,  excepting  during  the 
five  minutes  it  took  me  to  call  at  the  pawnshop  about 
the  watch.  Besides,  I  haven't  any  blue  glasses.  I 
didn't  have  any  and  wouldn't  have  had  time  to  buy 
any  while  there." 

"  Are  you  sure  you  were  only  away  from  Hagner 
for  five  minutes?  The  pawnbroker  said  both  visits 
took  place  within  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  all  told.  The 
glasses  might  have  been  bought  before  you  took 
the  train.  We  are  not  trying  to  accuse  you,  Case, 
we  are  trying  to  keep  from  having  to,"  said  Mr. 
Williams. 

"  I  am  not  sure  that  it  was  exactly  five  minutes," 
said  Hal,  "  I  am  not  sure  of  anything  except  that  I 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  theft  of  the  medal.  And 
yet  I  can't  blame  you  gentlemen  very  much,  because 
it  certainly  does  look  bad,  especially  when  I  was  on 
my  way  to  leave  the  University  for  good." 

Hal  had  somewhat  recovered  his  balance  because 
he  knew,  of  course,  that  it  must  come  out  all  right 
somehow,  although  he  had  no  idea  what  or  how 
they  were  going  to  do  him.  He  knew  he  was  in- 
nocent yet  here  were  a  lot  of  circumstances  that 
looked  like  evidence  to  them  and  until  he  could  clear 
them  up  he  would  be  under  great  suspicion. 

If  they  should  decide  that  the  evidence  warranted 
action  they  could  even  have  him  locked  up,  and  he 
began  to  think  of  the  books  he  had  read  of  people — 

90 


UNDER   SUSPICION 

men,  women,  and  boys  who  had  been  unjustly  accused 
of  different  crimes  and  had  been  locked  up  for  years, 
many  of  them  never  having  their  innocence  proved. 
It  was  a  terrible  fix  for  him.  All  this  went  through 
his  mind  while  the  others  were  consulting. 

Finally  Dr.  Lawrence,  the  president,  turned  to 
Hal  and  said: 

"  Mr.  Case,  it  is  a  terrible  thing  for  all  of  us  to 
have  to  consider  a  matter  of  this  kind.  It  is  one  of 
the  few  occasions  in  my  life  when  I  would  rather  be 
anyone  else  than  the  President  of  Lowell  University. 
Whoever  it  was  who  performed  this  theft  may  have 
to  answer  finally  for  the  conviction  of  an  innocent 
young  man.  We  are  loath  to  accuse  you  of  this 
crime.  In  fact,  I  wish  you  to  understand  thoroughly 
that  we  do  not  accuse  you  now.  At  the  same  time 
the  circumstances  are  such  that  we  cannot,  we  regret 
to  say,  exonerate  you  until  the  matter  is  fully  cleared 
up.  You  yourself  admit  that  it  looks  bad  for  you. 
It  does.  But  we  will  not  permit  ourselves  to  believe 
you  guilty  until  every  effort  has  been  made  to  clear 
it  up.  Meantime,  however,  not  as  a  punishment  for 
the  matter,  but  to  put  it  on  a  basis  which  while  not 
justifiable  is  nevertheless  explainable,  as  the  result 
of  your  intention  to  absent  yourself  from  the  Uni- 
versity without  leave,  we  have  decided  that  you  must 
consider  yourself  off  the  Varsity  for  the  period  of 
one  week.  We  rely  on  you  not  to  leave  the  University 
pending  the  investigation.  I  am  sorry." 

He  shook  Hal's  hand  warmly  after  this  dignified 
speech  and  expressed  the  hope  that  the  matter  could 


WON    IN   THE   NINTH 

be  cleared  up  soon.    He  assured  Hal  that  no  expense 
or  labor  would  be  saved  in  that  direction. 

Then  they  let  him  go  home  and  it  was  the  saddest 
trip  Hal  ever  took  in  the  direction  of  Mrs.  Malcolm's 
home.  Whether  they  considered  him  guilty  of  the 


,e.-i 


greater  crime  or  not,  he  was  disgraced  anyhow. 
Surely  it  was  a  hard  punishment  to  give  an  impetuous 
young  fellow  for  simply  wanting  to  go  home  and  for 
the  reason  that  Hal  thought  he  had. 

He  went  up  the  stairs  to  his  room  with  a  heavy 
heart — a  heart  that  ached  in  every  way.  He  felt 
that  he  was  done  for. 

Hans'  door  was  open  and  he  heard  Hal  come  in. 

"Been  up  on  the  green  carpet?"   asked  Hans. 

92 


UNDER   SUSPICION 

"  That's  what  they  say,  isn't  it  when  they  send  for 
you  like  that?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Hal,  dejected. 

"What's  the  matter  now?  Nothing  about  the 
medal  or  our  trip  to  Boston,  was  it?  "  went  on  Hans. 
But  before  he  could  answer,  Hal  broke  down  and 
went  all  to  pieces.  "  I'm  disgraced,"  he  almost 
shouted  in  his  agony. 

"  Tell  me  what  happened,"  said  Hans  when  he 
had  quieted  him  down  somewhat.  Then  Hal  told 
him  all  that  had  taken  place  and  what  had  been  said, 
the  pawnbroker's  story  and  everything,  winding  up 
by  repeating  the  president's  speech  which  he  could 
recite  almost  word  for  word,  so  forcibly  had  every 
syllable  sunk  into  his  brain. 

"  I'm  disgraced,"  he  concluded. 

Hans  was  thunderstruck.  Did  they  connect  him 
with  it  in  any  way?  Was  his  name  mentioned? 
Why  didn't  they?  It  was  preposterous.  He  had 
Hal  go  over  different  parts  of  the  story  again  and 
again.  They  didn't  believe  Hal  guilty,  yet  they 
put  him  off  the  team  for  a  week. 

"  We  must  clear  this  up,"  said  he,  finally,  when 
he  had  a  little  time  to  think.  "  WTe  must  clear  it 
up  within  a  week.  How  I  don't  know,  but  it  must 
be  done.  Don't  worry  about  being  suspended  for 
a  week.  No  one  but  Hughie  need  know.  You  can 
fix  it  up  with  him  that  your  foot  is  paining  you  again 
from  Crossley's  spikes  and  carry  your  cane  and  limp 
a  little.  Hughie  will  protect  you.  He  likes  you  well 
enough  for  that.  At  the  end  of  the  week  you  can 

93 


;  WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

get  well  again.  We  don't  need  to  worry  about  that 
end  of  it.  We've  got  to  go  over  this  thing  step  by 
step  and  account  for  everything  that  happened  to 
you  and  me  from  the  time  you  left  this  house  that 
day  until  you  got  back.  Now  let's  get  busy,"  and 
they  started  in  on  the  hardest  proposition  they  had 
ever  tackled. 

Item  by  item  they  went  over  the  day's  happenings 
again  and  again.  They  started  in  with  Hal's  leav- 
ing Mrs.  Malcolm's  house  on  the  way  to  the  station. 

"  Did  you  walk  or  did  you  take  the  car?  Who 
took  your  trunk!  Did  you  talk  to  anybody? 
Whom?" 

These  were  the  kind  of  questions  Hans  fired  at 
Hal  like  shots  out  of  a  gun.  For  once  this  phleg- 
matic young  man  was  thoroughly  aroused  and  ex- 
cited. Whenever  he  asked  a  question  that  Hal 
couldn't  answer  he  would  say  "  Think  1  Think !  " 

They  went  over  everything  up  to  the  time  Hal 
took  the  train,  and  they  found  no  clew  of  any  kind. 
Hal  had  talked  to  no  one  except  the  ticket  agent, 
the  policeman  at  the  corner,  and  yes!  he  did  ask 
another  man  whom  he  met  as  he  ran  out  of  the  station 
about  the  location  of  a  pawnshop  but  the  other  fellow 
was  hurrying  too  and  he  guessed  he  hadn't  heard  his 
question  because  he  didn't  stop.  Hal  hadn't  either. 

Then  they  went  all  over  the  incidents  of  the  ride 
to  Boston,  meeting  with  Delvin,  waiting  in  the  sta- 
tion for  him,  Hal's  visit  to  the  pawnshop,  the  dinner 
at  Delvin's  and  the  vaudeville  show  but  found  noth- 
ing that  would  give  them  a  start. 

94 


UNDER    SUSPICION 

Then  Hans  had  Hal  tell  the  pawnbroker's  story 
over  again,  word  for  word  as  near  as  he  could  re- 
member it.  When  Hal  came  to  the  part  about  the 
envelope  Hans  stopped  him. 

"  Do  you  remember  where  you  got  that  envelope 
and  how  you  happened  to  write  your  name  on  it?  " 

"  Why  yes,  I  got  it  off  my  desk  that  day  when  I 
was  packing.  I  remember  I  wrote  my  name  and 
home  address  on  it  and  put  it  in  my  handkerchief 
pocket  intending  to  leave  it  at  the  post  office  as  a 
forwarding  address  for  my  mail." 

"  Did  you  leave  it  there?  " 

Hal  thought  a  moment.  "  No,  I'm  sure  I  forgot 
all  about  that.  I  didn't  go  to  the  post  office  at  all." 

"  Then  it  must  have  been  in  your  pocket  on  the 
train.  You  may  have  pulled  it  out  of  your  pocket 
with  your  handkerchief  on  the  train,"  continued 
Hans. 

"  I  can't  remember  having  used  my  handkerchief 
on  the  train,"  said  Hal,  "  but  I  do  recollect  now 
that  when  I  came  out  of  the  pawnshop  I  was  per- 
spiring freely  from  slight  nervousness  and  the  excite- 
ment of  knowing  the  great  value  of  my  watch." 

'*  That  might  account  for  its  having  gotten  into 
the  pawnshop,"  said  Hans  eagerly,  "  if  the  thief  was 
near  there  and  happened  to  see  it  (then  in  a 
moment) .  Sure  that's  what  happened.  Didn't  he 
show  up  within  five  minutes  after  you  left  the  place? 
You  drop  the  envelope  on  the  sidewalk  without  know- 
ing it,  he  comes  along,  sees  it,  picks  it  up,  and  as  one 
name  is  as  good  to  him  as  another,  and  as  he  doesn't 

95 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

expect  to  call  for  the  medal  again,  he  fixes  up  that 
story  for  the  pawnbroker  to  show  him  he  doesn't 
want  to  part  with  the  medal  forever  and  that  makes 
the  broker  loan  him  the  money  on  it,  because  they 
had  rather  make  loans  to  people  who  redeem  their 
pledges  than  not.  People  who  do  this  have  the  habit 
and  become  steady  customers.  We're  doing  fine." 

By  that  time  it  was  nearly  daylight.  They  had 
been  up  all  night  without  noticing  it.  They  felt 
they  had  made  a  start.  At  last  they  decided  to  get 
an  hour  or  two  of  sleep. 

Hal  went  to  his  bed  exhausted  but  couldn't  sleep, 
he  was  so  worried.  Hans  fell  asleep  promptly  or 
thought  he  did.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  was  only 
half  dozing  with  the  problem  going  through  his 
mind.  He  was  so  intent  on  it  that  he  was  thinking  of 
it  unconsciously  and  as  he  thought  he  was  asleep  he 
thought  he  had  a  dream  of  getting  on  a  train  to  go 
some  place.  Oh  yes,  he  was  trying  to  find  Hal,  he 
was  getting  on  the  back  end  of  the  train  and  as  he 
walked  into  the  car  he  saw  Hal  sitting  on  the  last  seat 
of  the  car,  blue  hat,  mixed  gray  suit  and  all,  and  he 
saw  himself  going  up  to  speak  to  him  and  greet  him  in 
true  college-boy  style,  hitting  his  friend  on  the  back 
as  hard  as  his  right  hand  would  permit  him,  and  just 
as  his  hand  was  about  to  fall  on  Hal's  shoulders  he 
looked  and,  u  By  George!  "  said  Hans,  jumping  out 
of  bed  and  running  over  to  Hal's  room  like  mad, 
shouting,  "  I've  got  him.  The  fellow  with  the  blue 
glasses!  Blue  hat,  gray  suit,  just  like  yours  on  the 
same  train." 


UNDER    SUSPICION 

Then  he  told  Hal  about  the  fellow  on  the  train 
whom  he  had  almost  forgotten.  How  he  thought  he 
was  Hal  and  was  just  about  to  hand  him  one  when 
he  had  noticed  the  blue  glasses  and  then  found  it 


wasn't  Hal.  He  wound  up  by  saying,  "  Find  the 
other  fellow  with  the  blue  hat,  the  mixed  gray 
suit  and  the  blue  glasses  and  weVe  got  the  medal 
thief." 


97 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE    STUDENT    DETECTIVES 

THE  first  thing  they  did  in  the  morning  was  to 
hunt  up  Hughie.  They  routed  him  out  before  break- 
fast. When  they  saw  him  they  told  him  the  whole 
story  from  beginning  to  end.  They  told  him  about 
HaPs  suspension  for  a  week,  and  fixed  it  up  with 
him  for  Hal  to  carry  his  cane  and  limp  when  anybody 
was  around.  Then  Hans  got  excused  from  practice 
for  a  few  days,  also  without  any  particular  reason 
except  the  one  to  Hughie  that  he  wanted  to  put  in 
his  spare  time  on  a  little  detective  work. 

After  breakfast  they  went  to  Mr.  Williams' 
house.  It  was  still  before  hours,  and  after  a  little 
delay,  Mr.  Williams  came  downstairs.  Hans  told 
him  about  seeing  the  fellow  with  the  blue  glasses 
on  the  train,  also  that  he  had  a  hat  and  suit  on  that 
looked  a  good  deal  like  Hal's.  Mr.  Williams  was 
deeply  interested  and  gave  them  both  permission  to 
absent  themselves  from  class  for  a  few  days,  asking 
them  to  report  to  him  each  evening.  He  said,  too, 
he  would  tell  the  detective  whom  they  would  employ 
that  day  so  they  could  help  run  down  the  clew. 

For  three  days  they  hunted  the  town  over  to  find 
a  merchant  who  might  have  sold  a  blue  cloth  hat 


THE    STUDENT    DETECTIVES 

like  Hal's,  but  without  result.  The  same  thing  hap- 
pened when  they  tried  to  find  one  who  had  sold  a 
pair  of  blue  glasses.  They  didn't  make  a  bit  of 
progress.  The  station  agent  couldn't  recall  anyone 
with  a  blue  hat  buying  a  ticket  to  Boston  that  day. 
He  didn't  even  remember  that  Hal  had  worn  that 
kind  of  a  hat  or  a  gray  suit,  or  even  that  he  had 
bought  a  ticket. 

The  next  morning  passed  also  without  result.  At 
noon  they  went  over  to  Springville,  the  next  town,  to 
investigate  the  stores  there  to  see  if  they  could  find 
a  clew. 

As  they  were  going  into  the  town,  the  car  stopped 
to  give  an  automobile  a  chance  to  cross  the  track 
ahead  of  them.  This  called  Hans'  attention  to  the 
automobile.  There  was  no  one  in  it  but  the  driver, 
but  he  had  on  a  blue  cloth  hat  and  wore  blue  glasses. 
Hans  jumped  up  and  leaned  out  to  get  a  better  view 
of  the  occupant,  shouting  to  Hal:  "  Get  the  number 
of  that  machine  quick."  Hal  did  so,  but  just  then 
Hans  said,  in  a  disappointed  tone,  "  Never  mind  the 
number,  the  driver's  colored  and  the  man  who  wore 
the  blue  glasses  was  white."  So  they  went  back  to 
their  seats  more  disappointed  than  ever.  When  they 
had  gone  a  little  farther,  however,  Hans  burst  out, 
"  Do  you  remember  that  number  yet?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Hal,  "  27,843,  Mo.  There  was  an- 
other smaller  number  underneath,  but  I  couldn't  get 
that  one." 

"  Let's  go  back,"  said  Hans.  "  I  have  a  hunch 
that  we  ought  to  investigate  that  car." 

99 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

With  that  they  swung  off  the  trolley  and  after 
waiting  a  few  minutes  along  came  another  car  going 
in  the  opposite  direction. 

'*  That  auto  may  stop  in  Lowell.  I  don't  suppose 
it  will  do  any  good,  but  it's  the  first  thing  that  looks 
like  a  clew  that  we  have  had,  and  we'd  better  follow 
it  up." 

When  they  got  back  to  town  they  visited  all  the 
garages  in  the  city  without  explaining  their  mission, 
and  looked  at  the  numbers  on  all  the  cars.  They 
didn't  find  the  one  they  were  looking  for,  so  they 
went  down  to  report  to  Mr.  Williams.  He  was  very 
much  interested. 

"  Why  didn't  you  ask  the  garage  people  if  they 
had  seen  a  car  with  that  number?  " 

"  Guess  we  didn't  know  enough,"  said  Hans. 
"  We're  not  such  great  detectives  after  all." 

Mr.  Williams  thought  enough  of  the  clew  to  say 
that  he  would  have  one  of  the  detectives  interview 
the  managers  of  the  garages  and  find  out  if  a  car 
of  that  number  had  been  in  town  that  day  and  to 
see  if  they  could  trace  it.  '  We  can  also  write  to 
St.  Louis  and  find  out  who  owns  that  Missouri 
number." 

Hans  and  Hal  then  went  to  their  rooms  to  get 
ready  for  dinner,  for  their  work  made  them  hungry, 
although  of  course  Hans  had  the  better  appetite  of 
the  two.  In  the  evening  they  were  sitting  in  Hans' 
room  when  there  was  a  knock  on  the  door.  Hal 
opened  it  and  there  was  Mr.  Williams. 

"We've  found  the  automobile,"  said  Mr.  Will- 
100 


THE    STUDENT    DETECTIVES 

iams.  "  It  belongs  to  one  of  the  students  of  the  Uni- 
versity who  has  a  colored  driver.  The  driver  has 
been  employed  for  only  a  month  and  I  am  afraid  that 
there  is  nothing  in  our  clew.  The  machine  belongs 
to  Crossley." 

Hans  jumped  about  four  feet  in  the  air:  "  Crossley 
did  you  say  ?  "  The  jump  seemed  to  give  him  power 
to  think  quick.  "  Could  it  be  possible.  Could  he 
do  such  a  thing?  I  hardly  think  so.  He  wouldn't 
have  any  reason  for  it.  He  has  plenty  of  money." 
He  was  thinking  out  loud.  "  Wait,  let  me  see.  He 
might  not  want  to  do  it  just  for  money.  He  deliber- 
ately spiked  Hal.  He  seemed  to  have  it  in  for  him 
for  some  reason.  Come  to  think  of  it  that  fellow  on 
the  train  looked  something  like  him  under  those 
glasses."  Then  came  "  yes,  it  might  have  been 
Crossley." 

The  others  sat  watching  him  in  amazement.  Final- 
ly Hans  turned  to  Mr.  Williams  and  told  him  what 
he  had  noticed  about  the  deliberate  spiking  of 
Hal.  He  could  give  no  motive  and  neither  could 
Hal  say  why  Crossley  might  dislike  him. 

When  he  had  finished  Mr.  Williams  said,  "  I 
hardly  think  it  could  be  possible.  Still  I  think  I  had 
better  send  for  Crossley;  I  will  do  so  right  away." 
He  promised  to  let  the  boys  know  later  in  the  even- 
ing if  anything  worth  while  resulted.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  Mr.  Williams  had  concluded  there  might  be 
more  in  the  idea  than  he  had  let  on.  He  sent  Crossley 
a  note  like  the  one  he  had  sent  Hal,  asking  him  to 
come  to  the  office  at  once,  late  though  it  was.  But 

101 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

he  added  a  few  words  at  the  bottom:  "  Bring  your 
chauffeur's  hat  and  goggles." 

When  Crossley  received  the  note  he  read  it  only 
once,  but  he  knew  it  was  all  up  with  him.  He  had 
been  having  a  pretty  uncomfortable  time  himself 
during  the  past  days,  but  it  was  only  when  he  re- 
ceived Mr.  Williams'  note  that  the  utter  baseness 
of  his  misdeeds  became  fully  apparent  to  him.  He 
couldn't  stand  the  thought  of  facing  Mr.  Williams 
and  Hal. 

Like  a  lot  of  the  boys,  he  was  brave  only  until 
he  was  called  upon  to  stand  a  real  test,  and  Crossley's 
training  wasn't  the  kind  that  would  let  him  take 
his  medicine.  So  he  didn't  even  wait  until  the  mes- 
senger had  gone.  His  automobile  was  standing  at 
the  curb  in  front  of  his  quarters.  He  didn't  stop 
for  anything,  not  even  to  pack  up,  nor  did  he  wait 
for  his  driver.  He  dashed  down  the  stairs,  jumped 
into  his  automobile  and  went  away  as  fast  as  his 
machine  could  carry  him.  The  messenger  boy  re- 
ported to  Mr.  Williams  what  he  had  seen  and  he 
said,  "  He  must  be  the  guilty  party.  His  flight  surely 
was  a  confession." 

He  called  up  Hal  and  Hans  and  told  them  what 
had  happened  and  that  Hal  might  consider  the  sus- 
pension removed. 

As  for  Crossley  this  is  where  he  goes  out  of  the 
story.  They  struck  his  name  from  the  rolls  of  the 
University.  No  doubt  he  turned  up  at  his  home  in 
due  time,  but  the  University  authorities  never  made 
any  attempt  to  punish  him.  They  were  satisfied  that 

102 


"Get  the  number  of  that  machine 


THE    STUDENT    DETECTIVES 

he  had  gone  without  bringing  the  fair  name  of  the 
school  into  more  disrepute. 

They  packed  up  his  things  and  sent  them  to  his 
home,  and  if  they  were  ever  called  upon  by  Crossley's 
father  to  explain  anything  about  the  matter  will  prob- 
ably never  be  known.  Nothing  was  ever  said  about 
it  one  way  or  the  other  at  Lowell.  The  college  peo- 
ple sent  out  the  news  that  the  medal  had  been  found, 
leaving  anyone  to  guess  whether  it  had  really  been 
stolen  or  mislaid. 

President  Lawrence  sent  for  Hal  and  thanked 
him  for  the  courage  he  had  shown  while  under  the 
cloud,  again  expressed  his  sorrow  that  he  had  been 
forced  by  circumstances  to  put  him  under  suspicion, 
and  Hal  went  home  feeling  more  relieved  than  he 
had  ever  felt  in  his  life. 

As  for  Hans  he  was  jubilant.  Hal  felt  particu- 
larly grateful  to  him  for  his  clever  work  in  clearing 
up  the  mystery  and  wanted  to  tell  the  story  at  the 
training  table  in  order  that  Hans  should  have  full 
credit,  but  Hans  objected  in  his  modest  way  and  so 
they  kept  the  story  absolutely  to  themselves  and  were 
happy. 


103 


CHAPTER    XII 

HAL   IS   DISCOVERED 

THE  season  was  coming  along  rapidly.  The  first 
big  game  of  the  year  with  Armour  was  only  a  week 
off  and  the  Varsity  was  hardly  prepared  for  it.  Base- 
ball in  the  big  colleges  had  come  to  be  almost  as 
scientific  as  in  the  professional  leagues,  which  by  the 
way  were  full  of  college  men — they  having  been  rap- 
idly replacing  the  old-time  every-man-for-himself 
sluggers  who  learned  their  baseball  on  the  back  lots, 
and  who  while  "  Kings  of  the  game  "  in  their  days 
were  no  match  for  the  scientific  brainy  players  of 
inside  baseball  which  had  been  developed  in  the  col- 
leges. Also  the  fact  that  college-trained  men  were 
taking  positions  in  the  professional  leagues,  took  a 
good  deal  of  the  rowdyism  out  of  the  game  and  in- 
creased its  popularity  with  the  "  fans  "  all  over  the 
country. 

Lowell  University  had  been  the  first  to  develop 
the  clever  "  inside  ball "  as  it  had  come  to  be  called 
and  the  other  colleges  had  taken  it  up.  A  big  part 
of  "  inside  ball "  is  made  possible  by  the  "  signals  " 
which  each  of  the  players  had  to  know  and  remember. 

They  had  signals  for  every  combination  that  could 
be  imagined,  some  of  the  players,  as,  for  instance,  the 

104 


HAL    IS    DISCOVERED 

shortstop,  the  key  to  the  infield,  had  fifteen  signals, 
all  of  which  he  had  to  keep  in  mind,  and  any  one  of 
which  he  might  have  to  use  at  any  moment.  The 
other  players  had  their  own  signals,  too,  and  every 
player  on  the  team  must  be  familiar  with  every  other 
player's  signals,  while  at  bat.  Otherwise  if  two  men 
used  the  same  signals  the  opposing  players  would 
soon  catch  on  to  what  was  going  to  be  tried. 

And  so  before  this  first  big  game  with  Armour, 
Hughie  spent  most  of  the  practice  hours  training 
the  men  in  the  use  and  understanding  of  the  signals, 
so  that  each  man  on  the  bases  could  tell  by  watching 
just  what  the  batter  would  try  to  do,  and  if  the 
opposing  team  was  at  bat,  the  Lowell  boys  in  the 
field  signaled  to  each  other  how  to  play  if  the  ball 
went  here  or  there. 

Then  there  was  practice  in  base  running,  sliding, 
etc.,  particularly  the  fall-away  slide.  Ty  Robb  and 
Honus  enjoyed  the  sliding.  These  two  stole  more 
bases  in  practice  and  regular  games  than  all  the  other 
men  on  the  team  put  together. 

The  rules  of  the  game  give  the  runner  absolute 
right  to  the  base  paths,  otherwise  a  baseman  could 
always  block  a  runner.  The  average  player,  even 
though  courageous,  starts  his  slide  when  about  fifteen 
feet  from  the  bag,  so  that  by  the  time  the  bag  is 
reached  the  slider  is  not  coming  at  very  fast  speed — 
he  is  almost  stopped  in  fact,  and  it  is  easy  for  the 
baseman  to  tag  him  without  much  danger  from  spikes. 
But  Ty  and  Honus  were  daredevils.  Neither  knew 
what  fear  was.  They  got  onto  the  fact  that  by 

105 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

starting  to  slide  when  about  eight  feet  from  the  base 
they  would  sail  into  it  full  speed,  and  that  nine  times 
out  of  ten  the  baseman  was  afraid  to  try  to  touch 
them  even  if  he  had  the  ball.  So  Ty  and  Honus 
were  detailed  to  teach  the  others  how  to  slide,  and 
everyone  was  working  hard  to  perfect  the  team 
work. 

At  the  end  of  the  week  the  team  took  its  first  trip 
out  of  town,  when  they  went  to  Hudson  City  for  the 
annual  game  with  Armour,  which  always  had  one  of 
the  best  teams  in  the  East.  The  boys  arrived  after 
an  all-night  ride  in  the  sleeper,  but  by  the  time  break- 
fast was  over  and  they  reached  the  ground  for  a  little 
warming-up  practice,  everyone  was  feeling  fine  with 
the  exception  of  Huyler,  the  substitute  infielder  who 
sprained  his  ankle,  and  had  been  sent  to  a  hospital 
to  have  it  attended  to,  and  Hal,  who  had  been 
brought  along,  but  who  saw  no  chance  whatever  to 
get  into  the  game,  since  Miner  was  in  fine  form  and 
Babe  had  developed  into  a  pretty  steady  winner. 
Nothing  but  an  avalanche  of  singles,  two-baggers, 
and  homers  would  give  him  a  chance  that  day. 

It  looked  like  rain  almost  up  until  the  game  had 
been  called. 

Hudson  City  was  one  of  the  largest  college  towns 
in  the  country.  Fifteen  thousand  people  could  be 
seated  in  the  stands,  and  they  were  filled,  while  five 
thousand  others  stood  or  sat  on  the  ground.  A  thou- 
sand Lowell  boys  and  two  thousand  Lowell  grad- 
uates were  seated  in  the  stands  back  of  third  base 
where  the  visiting  players'  bench  was  also  located. 

106 


HAL   IS    DISCOVERED 

Down  in  the  field  in  front  of  the  section  where  the 
Lowell  boys  sat  were  four  Lowell  boys  with  mega- 
phones and  without  coats  or  hats  who  led  the  yell- 
ing and  the  singing,  and  the  wearers  of  the  green  did 
their  best  to  make  as  much  noise  and  sing  as  loud  as 
the  more  numerous  adherents  of  the  orange  (Ar- 
mour's color) ,  who  sat  in  the  stands  back  of  first  base 
and  spread  out  on  the  field,  and  who  would  have  won 
the  game  purely  on  their  enthusiasm  if  they  could. 
Last  year  Armour  had  played  at  Lowell  and  had  lost, 
but  they  had  a  good  time  anyhow  with  their  cheering 
and  their  singing,  and  especially  after  the  game  when 
the  Lowell  crowd  entertained  them. 

That  afternoon  the  team  came  nearer  to  defeat 
than  at  any  time  so  far  that  year.  The  advantage  of 
being  champions  had  been  partly  offset  by  the  big 
hostile  crowd  in  the  stand.  The  feeling  of  nervous- 
ness was  shared  by  Hughie  and  the  coaches  over 
the  one  weak  spot,  first  base,  in  what  would 
otherwise  have  seemed  to  him  a  championship  team. 
Dill  had  been  tried  and  founcf  wanting,  and  Ross 
was  given  the  job.  He  was  at  times  fit,  but  at  other 
times  he  made  the  rankest  errors  and  occasionally 
made  such  a  boneheaded  play  that  it  upset  the  confi- 
dence of  the  whole  team. 

"  If  this  is  one  of  Ross's  good  days,"  said  Hughie, 
"  we're  all  right;  but  if  he  is  as  bad  as  he  was  two 
weeks  ago  in  the  game  with  Colfax,  then  look  out. 
We  have  no  one  else  to  put  in,  and  we  can't  win 
from  this  crowd  if  it's  a  bad  day  for- Ross." 

Then  the  gong  sounded,  the  umpire  said  "  Play 
107 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

ball,"  the  Armour  boys  took  their  places  in  the  field 
and  the  game  was  on. 

Everson  led  off  for  Lowell  and  drew  a  base  on 
balls.  Captain  sacrificed  him  to  second;  Honus  drove 
a  hot  one  to  the  shortstop,  who  fumbled  but  recov- 
ered in  time  to  catch  the  runner  at  first,  Everson  tak- 
ing third.  Ty  placed  a  neat  single  over  the  second 
bag  and  Everson  came  in,  Ty  taking  second  on  the 
throw  in.  Tris  came  up  next  and  drove  a  hot  one 
past  third  base  and  Ty  came  all  the  way  home  on 
the  hit.  Tris  being  held  on  first,  Delvin  hit  a  screamer 
down  the  first-base  line,  which  rolled  to  the  fence,  and 
Arthur  made  the  round  trip  with  Tris  ahead  of  him. 
Ross,  the  next  man  up,  struck  out. 

"  That's  a  bad  sign,"  said  Hughie  to  himself  as 
Ross  walked  down  to  first  and  picked  up  his  glove. 

Carter,  the  first  man  up  for  Armour,  fouled  out; 
Wilson,  the  next  batter,  hit  a  long  fly  to  Ty;  Blair, 
the  next  man  up,  hit  a  grass-scorcher  over  second. 
Honus  rushed  over,  made  a  beautiful  pick  up  with 
one  hand  and  a  perfect  throw  to  Ross  ten  feet  ahead 
of  the  runner,  and  Ross  muffed  the  ball.  Gibbie  sig- 
naled to  Miner  to  throw  to  first  to  catch  the  runner 
who  had  taken  a  big  lead.  His  throw  was  good,  but 
Ross  again  muffed.  The  next  man  up  made  a  clean 
hit  over  third,  and  Blair,  the  man  on  first,  got  clear 
around  to  third.  Hughie  signaled  the  infield  to  play 
in  close,  because  a  hit  would  bring  in  a  run  anyhow. 
The  batter  tapped  an  easy  one  toward  Ross,  who 
picked  it  up  neatly,  but  while  he  was  making  up  his 
mind  where  to  throw  it,  the  man  on  third  came  in 

108 


HAL    IS    DISCOVERED 

and  the  batter  reached  first.  The  next  man  sent  a 
high  fly  to  left,  which  Cap.  gathered  in.  Score,  4 
to  i. 

In  Lowell's  half  of  the  second  we  went  out  in  one- 
two-three  order.  In  Armour's  half,  Miner  was  un- 
steady and  passed  Clymer,  the  first  man.  Then  he 


ttve     Ball 


struck  out  the  second  batter.  The  next  man  up  laid 
a  neat  bunt  down  toward  third;  Delvin  came  rushing 
in,  scooped  it  up  neatly  and  hurled  it  straight  for  the 
bag.  Again  Ross  muffed  the  ball,  and  before  he 
had  recovered  it  the  batter  was  safe  and  Clymer  who 
had  received  the  base  on  balls  originally  was  perched 
on  third.  By  this  time  the  nervousness  had  spread  to 
the  rest  of  the  team.  A  hit  would  mean  another  run. 
The  next  man  up,  who  was  the  pitcher,  dropped 
109 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

an  unexpected  hit  in  short  right,  but.Ty  who  had 
crept  in  pretty  close  made  a  quick  pick  up  and  threw 
to  first  ahead  of  the  runner  who  had  expected  the 
throw  to  go  to  the  plate  and  had  come  down  slow. 
But  Ty  had  seen  at  once  he  could  not  catch  the  man 
going  home,  so  he  did  the  unexpected  and  caught  the 
man  at  first,  and  as  good  luck  would  have  it  Ross 
caught  the  throw  while  everybody  felt  that  he  would 
have  muffed  it  again  if  it  hadn't  been  so  unexpected. 
Brain,  the  next  batter,  hit  an  easy  grounder  to  Ross 
who  touched  first  and  the  side  was  retired.  Score, 
Lowell,  4;  Armour,  2. 

It  was  easy  for  Armour  to  see  that  the  weak  spot 
in  the  Lowell  team  was  first  base  and  they  directed 
all  their  play  toward  that  point,  the  batters  trying 
to  drive  the  ball  down  that  way  continually.  Then 
for  three  innings  and  in  Lowell's  half  of  the  sixth, 
the  sides  went  out  in  one-two-three  order.  Miner 
knew  he  must  make  them  either  strike  out  or  put 
them  up  in  the  air,  and  the  flies  were  all  caught  by 
Lowell's  fielders,  so  the  other  boys  made  no  runs. 
Practically  the  same  things  happened  to  Lowell.  We 
got  one  or  two  more  hits  but  they  were  scattered 
and  nothing  happened. 

But  in  the  last  half  of  the  sixth  inning  came  more 
trouble.  The  first  man  up  batted  a  pretty  swift 
grounder  toward  first  base  and  it  passed  through 
Ross'  legs  though  Ty  came  racing  in  and  held  the 
runner  on  first.  It  was  a  sure  thing  there  would  be 
more  runs  if  they  continued  to  direct  the  attack  on 
Ross.  Everson  and  Miner  stalled  to  give  Ross  a 

no 


HAL    IS    DISCOVERED 

chance  to  cool  off  and  Jenkins  was  tearing  his  hair 
on  the  bench  because  he  had  no  one  to  send  to  take 
Ross'  place.  Dill,  the  only  other  man  who  had  ever 
played  the  bag,  was  not  with  the  team,  and  Huyler 
was  unexpectedly  hurt.  Once  Hughie  turned  to  Hal 
and  said,  "  Do  you  think  you  could  cover  that 
bag?" 

"  I  have  never  tried  it,"  said  Hal,  "  but  if  you 
order  me  in  there,  I'll  do  my  best  for  you  and  Low- 
ell." By  that  time,  however,  play  had  been  resumed. 
The  whole  team  was  nervous.  They  felt  that  any 
ball  batted  to  Ross  would  be  missed,  and  that  if  they 
did  stop  anything,  Ross  would  miss  the  throw.  Miner 
temporarily  lost  control  again,  giving  another  base 
on  balls,  making  a  man  on  first  and  one  on  second, 
with  nobody  out.  This  helped  to  increase  the  nerv- 
ousness of  the  whole  team,  and  even  Hughie  began 
to  lose  his  nerve  apparently.  Webb,  the  batter,  hit 
the  next  ball  pitched  for  a  line  drive  over  Honus' 
head,  who  did  the  best  he  could  and  knocked  it  down, 
but  too  late  to  get  his  man  at  first.  Three  men  on 
bases  and  nobody  out,  and  any  kind  of  a  hit  meant  a 
run,  and  possibly  two.  The  next  man  up  again 
directed  his  attention  to  Ross,  and  hit  another  easy 
grounder  toward  him.  Ross  made  a  beautiful  stop 
and  setting  himself  deliberately  for  the  throw,  for  he 
had  plenty  of  time,  threw  straight  for  the  plate,  but 
ten  feet  over  Gibbie's  head,  and  two  runs  came 
in,  tying  the  score.  Hughie  was  wild,  the  team 
was  wild,  the  Lowell  "  rooters "  were  wild,  the 
score  was  tied,  no  one  out,  and  Marsh  of  Armour 

in 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

was  on  second.  Hughie  walked  over  to  Hal  and 
said : 

"  Go  in;  you  can't  do  any  worse  than  that." 

Hal  said:  "I'll  do  my  best." 

HaPs  entry  into  the  game  didn't  help  the  rest  of 
the  team  back  to  confidence  any.  The  whole  team 
was  up  in  the  air,  and  now  they  had  an  entirely  un- 
known quantity  to  deal  with  at  the  initial  sack.  Hal 
was  most  nervous  of  all  of  them,  of  course,  although 
as  soon  as  Honus  saw  what  was  up  he  walked  over  to 
meet  him  and  said : 

"  Don't  worry,  I  told  you  several  times  you  would 
make  a  good  first  baseman,  and  you  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  me.  Now  you  got  to  do  it." 

Of  course,  the  Armour  team  knew  Hal  must  be 
untried,  or  Hughie  would  not  have  hesitated  so  long 
about  putting  him  in,  and  they  decided  if  they  could, 
they  would  continue  their  attack  upon  the  custodian 
of  first  base.  The  situation  now  was  a  tied  score, 
no  one  out  and  a  man  on  second. 

The  first  man  up  sent  a  hot  grounder  to  Honus. 
He  got  it,  held  it  long  enough  to  hold  the  man  on 
second  close  to  the  bag,  but  too  long  to  make  the 
throw  to  first  easy.  Therefore  he  threw  it  with  all 
his  might  at  Hal,  and  in  doing  so  he  threw  it  very 
wide  of  the  bag.  Hal  saw  it  coming  with  the  speed 
of  a  bullet;  he  also  saw  the  runner  rushing  toward 
him  along  the  base  line.  His  throwing  or  really  his 
pitching  hand  was  his  left  hand,  and  that  was  bare. 
To  run  up  the  base  line  far  enough  to  get  that  ball 
in  his  gloved  hand  meant  a  collision  with  the  runner, 

112 


'  He  stuck  his  left  foot  in  the  bag,  whirled  quickly  around  with  his  back  to  the  ball, 

stretched  out  his  right  mitt,  stuck  it  out  in  the  air  and 

caught  the  ball  with  one  hand." 


HAL   IS    DISCOVERED 

to  take  it  with  his  bare  left  probably  meant  a  crip- 
pled hand  and  the  loss  of  his  pitching  ambition. 

All  this  he  seemed  to  think  of  as  that  ball  was 
rushing  at  him  across  a  space  of  possibly  one  hundred 
feet  from  where  Honus  stood  and  in  probably  one- 
half  a  second  of  time.  By  that  time  the  ball  was  upon 
him.  Should  he  take  it  with  his  left  or  should  he  run 
up  the  base  line  and  get  it  with  his  right?  He  did 
neither;  he  stuck  his  left  foot  in  the  bag,  whirled 
quickly  around  with  his  back  to  the  ball,  stretched  out 
his  right  mitt,  stuck  it  out  in  the  air  and  caught  the 
ball  with  one  hand. 

"  Runner  out!  "  was  all  he  heard,  and  the  crowd 
and  his  team  mates,  the  Armour  boys  and  even  the 
man  on  second  were  so  thunderstruck  with  the  quick- 
ness of  it  all  and  the  apparent  ease  with  which  it  was 
done  that  they  cheered  for  five  minutes,  and  the  man 
on  second  forgot  to  run  home  while  he  had  a  chance. 
Nothing  like  it  had  ever  been  seen  before  on  any  ball 
ground.  Surely  he  did  not  think  that  out  while  the 
ball  was  coming  toward  him.  He  couldn't  have 
thought  it  out.  He  didn't  have  time.  It  was  in- 
stinct— a  sort  of  baseball  eighth  sense.  Hughie  was 
dancing  up  and  down  before  the  bench  with  joy, 
plucking  blades  of  grass  now  with  one  hand,  now 
with  another,  whistling  through  his  fingers,  sticking 
one  leg  out  before  him  straight,  yelling  "  Eyah." 

The  whole  team  was  wild,  but  with  a  different  kind 
of  wildness.  A  fellow  that  could  do  that  was  a  natu- 
ral ball  player.  If  he  could  make  one  stop  like  that 
he  could  make  another.  This  game  didn't  make  so 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

much  difference  now — they  had  discovered  a  first 
baseman.  Hughie  knew  it,  the  whole  team  knew  it 
— and  the  opposing  team  knew  it — they  all  sensed  it. 
The  fans  in  the  stands  may  not  have  realized  it,  and 
Hal  was  sure  he  didn't  know  what  it  was  all  about, 
in  fact,  he  hardly  knew  yet  what  he  had  done. 

The  umpire  had  called  time  to  let  the  excitement 
subside,  and  after  a  few  minutes  play  was  resumed. 
From  nervousness  the  team  had  gone  to  the  other 
extreme.  They  were  exhilarated.  The  next  man  up 
hit  a  low  liner  over  third.  Delvin  rushed  over,  stuck 
out  his  right  hand  and  the  ball  stuck;  two  out.  The 
next  man  hit  a  hot  grounder  to  Everson,  who  relayed 
it  to  Hal.  Out  of  pure  joy,  he  fired  it  about  five  feet 
over  Hal's  head.  Again  the  latter  figured  over 
quickly  in  his  mind  how  to  get  that  ball.  While  he 
was  thinking  about  it  his  instinct  made  him  leap  up 
in  the  air  and  stick  up  his  gloved  hand  into  space,  and 
again  the  ball  stuck  and  came  down  with  him  as  he 
landed  on  the  bag,  two  feet  ahead  of  the  runner. 
Three  out. 

Again  the  crowd  went  wild.  "  What's  his  name? 
He's  a  wonder.  Where  did  he  learn  to  play  first 
base?  "  and  such  expressions  were  heard  on  all  sides 
as  he  walked  to  the  bench.  After  that  it  was  easy. 
The  team  simply  had  the  confidence,  more  of  it  than 
they  ever  had  before.  Armour  on  the  other  hand 
was  now  nervous.  Miner  didn't  let  them  have  an- 
other hit  and  the  Lowell  boys  pounded  out  five  more 
runs,  so  that  the  final  score  stood  9  to  4  in  favor  of 
the  champions. 

114 


HAL    IS    DISCOVERED 

After  the  game  Hal's  team  mates  crowded  around 
him.  They  were  wild  with  joy.  In  the  dressing 
room  they  kept  on  cheering  him. 

"  Had  a  first  baseman  all  the  time,"  said  Hughie, 
"  and  didn't  notice  it." 


VLe 


"  Told  him  the  first  day  I  saw  him  he  would  make 
a  first  baseman,"  said  Honus,  "  made  a  pretty  good 
guess,  didn't  I,  Hal?" 

"  I  guess  it  was  an  accident,"  said  Hal,  at  the 
same  time  knowing  that  he  had  found  his  place. 

"  Accident  nothing,"  chimed  in  Robb  and  Everson 
in  chorus. 

Just  then  in  walked  good  old  Fred  Penny.  They 
were  busy  for  a  few  seconds  shaking  hands  with  the 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

old  boy.  Penny  had  come  over  to  the  game  with  a 
lot  of  other  old  Lowell  graduates.  u  I  want  to  see 
Case,"  said  Penny.  "  I  want  to  ask  him  where  he 
learned  to  play  first  base."  Then  when  they  intro- 
duced him  to  Hal,  he  said:  "  I'd  just  like  to  have 
been  the  office  boy  for  about  six  months  around  the 
place  where  they  teach  that  kind  of  baseball." 

"  Well,"  said  Hal,  "  I  suppose  after  this,  I'll  have 
to  give  up  the  pitching  business.  I'm  willing  to 
tackle  this  first-base  job  on  one  condition,  Penny,  and 
that  is  that  you  come  down  to  Lowell  for  a  week  and 
teach  me  a  little  of  what  you  know  about  playing  that 
position." 

"  That's  a  go,"  said  Penny,  "  I  feel  like  getting 
into  practice  myself  to  get  a  little  of  the  stiffness  out 
of  my  arms  and  legs." 

That  evening  they  all  went  to  the  theater  as  the 
guests  of  the  Armour  boys,  and  after  the  show  took 
the  sleeper  at  midnight  for  home.  Hal  and  Hans 
therefore  didn't  get  a  chance  to  see  much  of  the  city, 
not  as  much  as  they  would  have  liked  to. 

When  they  got  home  next  moring  before  breakfast 
the  whole  student  body  was  down  to  meet  them. 
Tim  Murnin  hadn't  let  any  grass  grow  under  his  feet 
in  getting  the  news  back  to  college.  His  story  had 
appeared  in  an  extra  issue  of  the  Lowell  Reporter, 
the  college  paper,  and  they  all  knew  about  Hal's  per- 
formance. They  had  plenty  of  cheers  for  the  team 
in  general,  but  for  the  moment  at  least  Hal  was  the 
only  Great  One,  and  he  took  his  honors  as  modestly 
as  he  could. 

116 


CHAPTER    XIII 

HANS   TAKES   A   TRIP 

ONE  day  in  May  Hans  came  into  Hal's  room  with 
a  letter  from  his  sister  who  had  come  to  New  York 
to  be  present  at  the  wedding  of  a  former  schoolmate 
to  take  place  in  Brooklyn,  the  next  week.  She  asked 
Hans  to  come  down  to  New  York  the  following 
Thursday  and  accompany  her  to  the  wedding.  She 
was  visiting  some  friends  who  lived  in  one  of  the 
New  York  suburbs  and  wrote  that  she  would  meet 
him  at  the  Grand  Central  Station  at  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  and  he  could  then  take  her  over  to 
Brooklyn  to  be  present  at  the  wedding,  which  was 
to  be  at  four  o'clock. 

Hans  had  never  been  in  New  York  before,  and 
hesitated  quite  a  little  about  making  the  trip  alone, 
and  wanted  Hal  to  go  along.  Hal  couldn't  afford 
to  spend  the  time  or  money  just  then,  and  reminded 
Hans  that  his  sister  had  been  in  New  York  before 
and  probably  knew  how  to  get  around  the  best  way, 
and  he  needn't  be  nervous.  He  thought  all  Hans' 
sister  wanted  him  for  anyhow,  was  as  escort. 

So  Hans  wrote  he  would  be  there  on  time  and  made 
his  preparations  for  the  trip  to  the  big  city.  While 
he  was  getting  ready  he  got  more  and  more  excited. 

117 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Like  most  boys  he  didn't  care  anything  about  the 
wedding,  in  fact,  he'd  rather  be  going  for  most  any 
other  reason,  but  he  thought  he  might  stay  over  Sun- 
day if  he  got  along  all  right,  and  see  some  of  the 
shows. 

"  Perhaps  I'll  have  time  to  see  the  Out  Door 
Weekly  and  get  a  job  for  both  of  us  canvassing  for 
subscriptions  in  our  spare  time,"  he  said. 

On  Thursday  morning,  bright  and  early,  he  took 
the  train  for  New  York,  which  left  at  five  o'clock, 
but  he  was  not  so  early  but  that  Hal  was  up  also  to 
bid  him  good-by. 

"  Look  out  for  the  confidence  men,"  said  Hal,  as 
Hans  was  leaving  the  house.  "  If  any  fellow  walks 
up  to  you  at  the  station  down  there  and  says,  l  Well ! 
Well!  if  it  isn't  my  old  friend  Hagner's  son  Hans! 
How  are  you,  Hans  ?  '  you'd  better  just  walk  by  and 
not  notice  him." 

"  Oh!  I  know  those  fellows,"  said  Hans.  "  I'll 
see  you  Monday,  and  if  I  don't  have  any  other 
trouble  but  confidence  men,  it  will  be  easy." 

But  when  Hal  was  going  out  to  chapel  the  next 
morning  whom  should  he  meet  on  the  doorstep  but 
Hans  with  his  grip  in  his  hand,  and  looking  glum 
and  discouraged. 

"What!  did  they  get  you  so  soon  as  all  this?" 
asked  Hal. 

"  Oh !  don't  talk  to  me  any  more  about  the  de- 
lights of  New  York,"  answered  Hans,  and  that  was 
all  Hal  could  get  out  of  him  about  his  trip  for  nearly 
three  days. 

118 


HANS   TAKES   A   TRIP 

By  Sunday  evening,  though,  things  began  to  thaw 
out  with  Hans.  The  boys  were  both  in  Hagner's 
room,  writing  their  weekly  letters  home,  telling  the 
folks  all  about  the  troubles  of  the  past  few  days,  and 
also  some  of  the  good  things  that  had  happened  dur- 
ing the  week. 

Hans  had  finished  his  letter  with  a  sigh,  as  he  evi- 
dently wasn't  quite  over  his  New  York  experience, 
and  had  leaned  his  head  back  against  the  cushions  in 
the  Morris  chair  and  was  thinking.  All  at  once  he 
said,  "  I  have  a  letter  here  from  my  sister  which  I 
got  yesterday,  but  haven't  opened  yet,  because  it  prob- 
ably has  a  lot  in  it  about  my  trip  to  New  York,  and 
I  don't  care  to  hear  any  more  about  that" 

"  Better  read  it,"  said  Hal.  "  It  isn't  fair  to 
people  who  write  you  letters  not  to  at  least  read 
them." 

"  I  suppose  I'll  have  to  read  it  some  time,"  said 
Hans,  and  he  opened  the  letter  and  started  to  read  it. 
Hal  went  on  with  his  writing  for  a  while  undisturbed, 
and  then  he  heard  Hans  begin  to  chuckle  to  himself. 
From  chuckling  he  turned  to  laughing  to  himself  and 
finally  to  laugh  out  loud.  Then  he  said,  "  Well,  I 
guess  it  depends  altogether  on  how  you  put  it.  This 
letter  from  my  sister  tells  something  about  my  trip 
to  New  York.  It  puts  it  in  an  altogether  different 
light  than  I  had  thought  of  it  before,  and  come  to 
think  of  it,  it's  really  funny,  after  it  is  all  over." 

"  I've  been  dying  to  ask  you  what  happened,"  said 
Hal,  "  but  your  face  during  the  past  three  days  has 
been  dark  enough  to  keep  anyone  from  asking  ques- 

119 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

tions.  I  suppose  father's  friends  from  way  back 
home  got  you  anyhow." 

"  No,  I  didn't  see  any  confidence  men,"  answered 
Hans.  ;<  What  got  me  was  that  I  went  all  the  way 
to  New  York  to  attend  a  wedding  and  to  see  some 
of  the  sights  of  the  town  over  Sunday  and  here  I  am 
back  at  Lowell  again  within  twenty-four  hours,  with- 
out seeing  either  the  wedding  or  any  of  the  sights 
and  just  about  $25  to  the  bad." 

u  How  could  that  happen?  "  asked  Hal,  showing 
much  interest. 

"  Well,  it  was  this  way,"  said  Hans.  "  I  got  to 
the  Grand  Central  Station  all  right  about  one  o'clock. 
The  sun  was  shining  and  I  was  feeling  pretty  good. 
There  were  lots  of  people  coming  and  going,  and  the 
streets  outside  were  so  crowded  I  thought  sure  there 
was  going  to  be  a  parade.  About  half  past  one  it 
started  to  rain  and  it  rained  harder  than  it  ever  rains 
in  Texas.  Of  course  I  didn't  have  any  rubbers  or 
umbrella  along,  and  when  my  sister  got  there  she 
didn't  have  any  either.  It  wasn't  raining  and  didn't 
look  like  rain  when  she  left  the  house  where  she  was 
visiting. 

"  She  was  all  dressed  up  in  her  finest  dress,  with 
big  hat,  and  looked  very  pretty,  but  I  couldn't  take 
her  on  a  street  car  in  that  kind  of  weather,  and  so  I 
said,  '  I  guess  we'll  have  to  take  a  cab.'  She  said 
under  the  circumstances  she  would  go  in  a  cab,  but 
that  she  would  pay  for  it,  because  she  knew  I  couldn't 
have  very  much  money,  I  guess,  and  she  gave  me  her 
pocketbook  with  some  money  in  it.  I  told  her  she 

120 


HANS   TAKES    A   TRIP 

had  better  come  with  me  and  we  would  find  the  best 
way  to  get  there.  She  said  we  had  better  take  the 
Twenty-third  Street  Ferry  to  Broadway,  Brooklyn, 
and  thought  it  would  be  cheaper  to  take  one  cab  to 
the  ferry,  then  ride  across  on  the  boat,  and  get  an- 


St.  Ferry  n 


other  cab  on  the  other  side.  So  I  asked  a  cabby  to 
take  us  to  the  Twenty-third  Street  Ferry  and  after 
we  had  been  riding  for  about  ten  minutes  we  got 
there,  and  when  I  asked  him  how  much  I  owed  him 
he  said  *  Three  Aces,'  and  I  said  *  What?  '  and  he 
said  '  Three  Dollars.'  So  I  paid  the  three  dollars 
out  of  sister's  money  (she  had  fifteen  dollars) ,  though 

121 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

I  felt  like  fighting,  and  we  rode  across  the  East  River 
on  the  ferryboat. 

'*  When  we  got  over  on  the  Brooklyn  side  it  was 
raining  harder  than  ever,  and  I  went  out  to  look  for 
a  cab.  There  was  none  in  sight,  so  I  telephoned  to 
six  livery  stables,  but  there  wasn't  any  to  be  had. 
And  there  we  were,  stuck  in  Brooklyn  in  the  ferry- 
house  and  the  rain  coming  down  like  anything,  and 
no  cabs. 

"  I  said  '  we  better  walk,'  but  sis  said  '  no,  she  had 
an  idea  ' ;  and  she  started  for  the  entrance  to  the 
ferryhouse,  where  I  saw  a  string  of  carriages  ap- 
proaching. When  I  caught  up  to  her  I  saw  it  was 
a  lot  of  carriages  bringing  people  back  from  a  fu- 
neral, and  sister  was  busy  talking  to  the  driver  of  one 
of  them.  Finally  we  explained  things  to  the  people 
inside,  and  they  consented  to  let  us  have  their  car- 
riage, and  they  thought  they  could  get  a  carriage  on 
the  New  York  side,  although  it  was  queer  to  change 
a  funeral  carriage  into  one  to  go  to  a  wedding. 
When  we  got  in  I  told  the  driver  where  we  wanted 
to  go,  and  he  sort  of  smiled,  but,  of  course,  I  didn't 
know  what  about.  I  soon  found  out  though,  as  after 
he  had  gone  about  four  blocks  and  turned  one  corner 
the  carriage  stopped,  and  the  driver  got  down  and 
opened  the  door,  saying  we  were  there.  I  hadn't 
asked  him  how  much  it  would  be,  but  told  him  to 
wait  for  us,  as  it  was  time  for  the  wedding  and  we 
only  expected  to  be  there  for  a  little  while. 

"  The  building  was  one  of  those  apartment  houses, 
my  sister  told  me — a  brand  new  building  with  ele- 

122 


HANS    TAKES    A    TRIP 

vators  and  boys  with  brass  buttons,  and  all  that. 
This  was  my  first  sight  of  an  apartment  house — this 
was  the  kind  which  had  little  apartments — four 
rooms  and  bath,  and  the  young  couple  who  were 
getting  married  had  furnished  it  up  very  nicely,  and 
were  going  to  start  housekeeping  right  after  the  wed- 
ding. Because  they  had  only  a  little  room,  they  had 
rented  or  obtained  the  use  of  the  apartment  next 
door,  for  people  to  leave  their  wraps.  The  boy 
showed  us  in  there. 

"  A  maid  showed  sister  into  one  room  and  me  into 
another,  and  said,  '  There  is  a  brush  and  comb  and 
clothesbrush  in  the  bath-room  if  you  need  one.'  I 
needed  it  because  I  was  pretty  wet,  and  my  hair  was 
rumpled.  I  went  into  the  bath-room,  and,  of  course, 
turned  the  bolt  in  the  door.  I  brushed  my  clothes 
and  combed  my  hair,  and  then  started  to  get  out. 
When  I  tried  to  turn  the  bolt  it  wouldn't  budge. 
You  see  this  apartment  had  never  been  occupied  and 
this  bolt  in  the  door  had  never  been  tried,  so  when  I 
had  turned  it  to  lock  it,  it  had  worked  all  right,  but 
when  I  tried  to  unlock  it,  it  had  stuck  tight  in  the 
door  and  I  couldn't  budge  it.  I  tried  and  tried  until 
my  fingers  were  worn  sore  and  still  I  was  in  there. 

'*  The  weather  was  warm  and  I  was  perspiring  like 
a  horse  after  a  race.  I  pounded  on  the  door  but  no- 
body could  hear  me,  because  everybody  but  sister  and 
the  maid  had  gone  in  to  the  wedding.  Sister  and 
the  maid  were  waiting  in  the  other  end  of  the  apart- 
ment for  me  and  didn't  hear  me.  After  about  fifteen 
minutes  I  began  to  kick  the  door  and  holler.  By  that 

123 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

time  sister  had  begun  looking  for  me,  and  came  to 
the  door.  She  asked  me  why  I  didn't  come  out,  and 
I  said  I  was  locked  in,  and  I  told  her  to  find  some- 
body. I  saw  at  once  that  I  might  be  in  there  an 
hour  or  two,  so  I  said  she  had  better  go  down  and 
pay  off  the  cabby. 


"  She  said  I  had  all  the  money,  so  I  slipped  a  ten- 
dollar  bill  (hers)  under  the  door  and  she  went  down- 
stairs to  pay  him  off.  He  took  the  ten  dollars  and 
drove  off,  and  that's  the  last  we  saw  of  him  or  any 
part  of  the  ten  dollars,  as  he  took  advantage  of  the 
rain  and  my  sister  to  drive  away.  Sister  came  up  ex- 
cited and  told  me  about  that  and  I  commenced  to  get 
madder  than  ever.  Also  I  kept  getting  warmer. 

124 


HANS   TAKES   A   TRIP 

Finally  sister  came  and  said  that  she  had  sent  for  the 
janitor  to  come  up  with  a  monkey-wrench. 

"  While  we  were  waiting  for  the  janitor  the  wed- 
ding had  taken  place  and  the  news  got  around  that 
one  of  the  guests  was  locked  in  the  bath-room.  That 
broke  up  the  reception  more  or  less  and  the  whole 
crowd  came  over  to  the  other  apartment,  and  stood 
in  front  of  the  bath-room  door,  to  advise  me  how  to 
get  out.  After  half  an  hour,  the  janitor  came,  but 
there  was  no  way  for  him  to  get  the  monkey-wrench 
to  me.  Finally,  he  said  he  would  go  round  to  the 
other  apartment  across  the  airshaft  and  if  I  would 
hang  out  of  the  window  on  one  side,  he  would  do 
the  same  on  the  other  and  I  could  reach  the  monkey- 
wrench.  We  did  this,  and  both  of  us  got  soaked 
good  and  hard  by  the  rain,  but  I  managed  to  get 
hold  of  the  wrench  by  hanging  onto  the  window- 
sill  by  my  toes.  I  was  pretty  mad  by  that  time,  but 
I  knew  I'd  get  out  quick  now,  so  I  walked  up  to  the 
door,  put  the  wrench  on  the  knob  which  was  flat 
on  both  sides,  and  gave  her  a  mighty  twist,  and 
crack!  the  knob  broke  off,  and  I  was  worse  off  than 
ever. 

"  Then  the  people  outside  suggested  taking  the 
hinges  off  the  door,  which  was  a  good  idea,  but  it 
would  take  more  than  a  wrench  to  get  the  pins  out, 
so  the  janitor  started  for  a  screw-driver.  After  an- 
other half  hour  he  appeared  at  the  window  across 
the  airshaft  again,  and  I  got  the  screw-driver  and 
another  ducking  from  the  rain,  and  started  to  work 
on  the  pins. 

125 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

'  They  had  been  put  in  to  stay,  but  I  managed  to 
get  them  out  in  three  quarters  of  an  hour,  and  told 
the  folks  outside  to  push.  They  pushed,  but  the  door 
wouldn't  budge.  You  see  the  bolt  in  the  other  side 
of  the  door  was  just  long  enough  to  hold  the  door 
tight  and  it  couldn't  be  opened  even  then. 

"  By  that  time  it  was  seven  o'clock  and  the  janitor 
got  an  axe  and  broke  out  the  lower  panels  with  that, 
and  I  finally  crawled  out.  Just  as  I  did  so  three 
policemen  came  into  the  apartment  and  outside  I 
could  hear  the  fire  gongs.  Somebody  looked  out  of 
the  window  and  there  was  a  hook  and  ladder  com- 
pany, which  had  come  in  answer  to  the  telephone  call 
of  one  of  the  guests,  and  were  going  to  get  me  out 
by  way  of  the  bath-room  window.  The  wedding, 
however,  was  over,  the  bride  was  in  hysterics,  and 
there  was  nothing  left  to  do,  since  it  was  still  raining 
hard,  but  to  get  another  cab  back  to  New  York  in 
the  hope  of  getting  to  the  station  in  time  to  enable 
sister  to  catch  the  8.03  train  for  Westchester,  the 
town  she  was  visiting  in,  and  where  they  were  giv- 
ing a  card  party  in  her  honor  that  night.  I  was  to 
go,  too. 

"  We  arrived  at  the  station  at  exactly  8.04  p.  M. 
The  cab  fare  was  five  dollars.  The  next  train  she 
could  get  would  be  9.30,  and  we  hadn't  had  a  bite 
to  eat  since  noon.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but  have 
some  dinner,  which  I  was  in  no  mood  for.  We  went 
to  one  of  the  hotels  near  by  and  ate  a  little  something. 
When  the  waiter  brought  the  bill,  it  was  nine  dollars 
and  eighty  cents,  and  I  never  paid  over  fifty  cents 

126 


"If  I  would  hang  out  of  the  window  on  one  side,  he  would  do  the  same  on  the  other. 


HANS   TAKES    A    TRIP 

for  a  good  dinner  in  my  life.  I  had  paid  out  eighteen 
dollars  in  cash  for  three  different  cab  rides — one  of 
ten  minutes,  three  dollars;  one  of  five  minutes,  ten 
dollars;  and  one  of  an  hour,  five  dollars.  Fifteen 
dollars  of  this  was  sister's  money.  The  dinner  cost 
me  nine  dollars  and  eighty  cents,  which  made  twelve 
dollars  and  eighty  cents  of  my  own  money  I  had  spent 
on  a  wedding  which  I  didn't  see,  and  on  a  trip  to 
New  York  on  which  I  saw  nothing  but  a  lot  of  thiev- 
ing cabbies. 

"  By  that  time  I  was  so  angry  I  was  red  in 
the  face,  and  the  madder  I  got  the  more  sister 
laughed,  until  I  got  out  of  patience  with  her 
and  put  her  on  the  train,  while  I  took  the  sleeper 
for  Lowell,  and  I  have  been  mad  at  things  in  gen- 
eral ever  since,  until  now  I  begin  to  think  it  was 
laughable  myself,  after  it  is  all  over,  though  it 
cost  a  lot  of  money,  and  I  didn't  see  much  of  the  big 
city." 

While  Hans  was  telling  this  Hal  sat  in  his  chair 
and  roared  and  laughed  until  he  couldn't  laugh  any 
more.  It  must  have  been  awfully  funny  with  Hans 
telling  it  in  his  own  peculiar  way.  Hal  said  finally 
he  thought  Hans  had  had  a  pretty  good  time  riding 
around  in  cabs  all  day  just  like  a  real  New  Yorker, 
but  Hans  said  he  had  enough  of  riding  in  cabs,  and 
he  didn't  like  weddings  anyhow. 

After  a  little  while,  Hal  finished  his  letter  and 
went  into  his  own  room.  Then  he  sat  down  to  write 
the  story  of  Hans'  experience  in  New  York  to  his 
folks.  He  started  in  with  a  new  sheet  of  paper  and 

127 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

just  for  fun  he  wrote  it  out  like  a  story,  heading  and 
all.     The  heading  was  like  this : 

GOING  TO  A  WEDDING  IN  BROOKLYN  FROM 
NEW  YORK,  U.  S.  A. 

BY  HAROLD  CASE 

Then  he  wrote  out  the  story  very  much  as  Hans 
had  told  it  to  him,  adding  a  touch  here  and  there  as 
the  funny  side  of  it  occurred  to  him  again,  and  when 
he  had  finished  it  he  started  to  put  it  in  the  letter 
which  he  had  written  to  his  folks  at  home.  What 
he  really  did,  however,  was  to  make  a  mistake 
through  pure  carelessness  which,  had  he  only  known 
it,  was  to  cause  him  not  only  a  lot  of  joy  but  a  great 
deal  of  happiness. 

He  had  addressed  a  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Out 
Door  Weekly  in  New  York  for  terms  to  agents  so- 
liciting subscriptions  to  the  magazine,  as  Hans  and 
he  had  talked  about  before  Hans'  trip  to  New  York. 
The  scheme  was  for  Hans  and  himself  to  try  to  get 
orders  for  the  magazine  by  the  year  from  the  people 
who  lived  in  near-by  towns,  and  the  letter  had  to  be 
written,  now  that  Hans  had  come  back  from  New 
York  without  seeing  the  people.  Now  when  he  came 
to  put  the  story  about  Hans,  intended  only  for  his 
folks,  in  the  letter  he  had  written  them,  he  picked 
up  the  wrong  envelope  and  stuck  the  story  in  the  en- 
velope addressed  to  the  editor  of  the  Out  Door 
Weekly,  and  the  letter  he  intended  for  the  editor  he 
put  in  the  envelope  addressed  to  his  folks  along  with 

128 


HANS   TAKES   A   TRIP 

his  regular  letter.     Then  he  mailed  them  and  went 
to  bed. 

About  a  week  later,  among  the  letters  received  by 
Hal  was  one  from  the  Out  Door  Weekly,  and  Hal 
opened  it  to  see  what  they  had  to  say  about  the  job 
of  getting  subscriptions  which  they  had  asked  for. 
When  he  opened  the  letter  something  dropped  out 
of  it  to  the  floor,  and  upon  picking  it  up  found  it 
was  a  check  for  $250,  made  out  to  Harold  Case. 
Of  course,  he  didn't  understand  this  so  he  opened 
the  letter,  and  this  is  what  he  read : 

"  MR.  HAROLD  CASE, 


"  DEAR  SIR:  We  beg  to  advise  you  that  your  story 
has  been  accepted  by  the  editor  and  will  appear  in 
the  next  issue.  We  have  taken  the  liberty  of  putting 
our  own  title  on  it. 

"  Inclosed  please  find  check  for  $250  in  payment 
of  same.  Any  time  you  have  any  stories  as  good  as 
this  to  submit  for  publication,  we  trust  you  will  favor 
this  magazine. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"WALTON  KEMP,  Editor 

"Out  Door  Weekly." 

Hal  couldn't  understand  it  and  so  he  took  the 
letter,  check  and  all,  into  Hans'  room,  and  asked  him 
what  he  made  out  of  it. 

"  Guess  somebody  made  a  $250  mistake,"  said 
Hans. 

129 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

"  They  certainly  have  got  me  mixed  up  with  some 
author,"  answered  Hal.  "  I  didn't  send  them  any 
story.  The  only  thing  I  have  sent  to  this  magazine 
is  the  letter  which  you  asked  me  to  write  about  the 
job  as  agents  for  their  magazine. " 

"  Well,  have  you  written  any  stories  to  anybody?  " 
asked  Hans. 

"  Not  that  I  know  of,"  answered  Hal.  "  The 
only  story  I  have  written  lately  was  this.  When 
you  told  me  the  tale  of  your  New  York  visit  the  other 
night  I  sat  down  in  my  room  afterwards  and  wrote 
it  all  out,  and  sent  it  to  the  folks,  thinking  they  would 
enjoy  it.  They  feel  as  though  they  know  you  as  well 
as  I  do  by  this  time." 

"  I  have  it,"  said  Hans.  "  I'll  bet  I  know  what 
you  have  done.  You  went  and  put  the  letter  for  the 
magazine  in  the  letter  to  your  folks  and  you  put  the 
story  about  me  in  the  envelope  addressed  to  the  maga- 
zine, and  they're  going  to  publish  that  story  about  me 
all  over  the  country." 

"  I  don't  suppose  I  could  make  a  mistake  like 
that,"  said  Hal. 

"  Well,  I  don't  suppose  you  could  either.  But 
say,  wouldn't  it  be  a  lucky  mistake  if  you  had  done 
it.  Think  of  making  a  mistake  like  that  and  getting 
$250  for  it.  Think  of  being  an  author  and  not 
knowing  it.  That  would  be  rich.  If  you  did  make 
that  mistake  I  think  I  ought  to  lick  the  stuffing  out 
of  you  for  advertising  me  all  over  the  country." 

"  All  right;  but  say,  maybe  I  did  make  that  mis- 
take. Guess  I  am  not  entitled  to  this  check  unless 

130 


HANS   TAKES   A   TRIP 

I  did  do  something  for  it,  but  what  on  earth  anybody 
would  want  to  pay  $250  for  that  kind  of  a  story  for, 
I  don't  quite  see.  Now  if  I  did  make  that  mistake 
and  they  think  enough  of  the  story  to  pay  $250,  it 
would  look  foolish,  wouldn't  it,  for  me  to  write  them 
now  and  tell  them  they  made  a  mistake.  Wouldn't 
the  best  way  be  to  wait  until  Saturday  when  the  next 
number  of  the  Weekly  appears,  and  we  can  then  see 
what  story  they  refer  to.  And  say,  if  that  should  be 
so,  and  I  made  the  mistake  the  way  you  guess,  I'll 
give  you  half  of  the  profits  provided  you  agree  not 
to  lick  me.  Anyway,  there's  no  other  name  men- 
tioned but  just  Hans.'1 

So  they  decided  to  hold  the  check  and  wait  for  the 
next  number  of  the  magazine  which  was  five  days 
off.  They  were  very  much  excited  about  it.  They 
could  hardly  wait  until  Saturday  came.  On  Friday 
Hal  got  a  letter  from  his  folks  in  answer  to  the  one 
he  had  mailed  ten  days  before,  and  in  it  his  father 
returned  him  the  letter  addressed  to  the  magazine 
in  which  they  had  asked  for  a  job  as  agents. 

Hal  then  knew  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  inclosing 
the  letters  and  had  sent  the  story  about  Hans  to  the 
magazine.  It  began  to  look  like  the  $250  check 
was  really  his,  by  the  greatest  possible  luck.  The 
next  morning  they  could  hardly  wait  for  the  news 
store  to  open.  They  were  both  on  hand  before  the 
doors  were  unlocked.  When  the  place  was  opened 
they  found  the  magazine  wouldn't  arrive  until  ten 
o'clock.  That  was  four  hours  to  wait.  They  went 
home  to  breakfast  but  were  on  hand  promptly  when 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

the  package  arrived  from  the  depot,  and  eagerly 
bought  a  copy.  Hal  turned  the  pages  one  after  the 
other  until  he  came  to  a  story  headed : 

"  To  A  BROOKLYN  WEDDING  AND  BACK  AGAIN  " 

A  STORY  FROM  REAL  LIFE  ABOUT  HANS 

BY  HAROLD  CASE 

"  There  she  is,"  said  Hal.  "  Now  what  do  you 
think  of  that?"  They  read  it  through  together. 
Eight  whole  pages.  It  was  almost  exactly  as  Hal 
had  written  it.  The  editor  had  changed  a  word  here 
and  there  and  it  was  illustrated  with  imaginative  pic- 
tures of  Hans  at  the  Grand  Central,  Hans  dealing 
with  the  driver  of  the  funeral  coach,  Hans  hanging 
out  of  the  bath-room  window,  and  every  kind  of  way. 

"  By  George,"  said  Hans.  "  You  are  an  author 
and  it  would  be  rude  to  lick  an  author,  but  you  won't 
have  to  canvass  for  the  magazine  subscribers  for  a 
month  or  two  anyhow." 

"Well,  you  won't  either,"  said  Hal.  "We'll 
divide  it  up  and  when  the  money's  spent,  I'll  send 
you  on  another  trip  to  New  York,  and  if  you  can 
get  something  else  to  happen  to  you,  I  may  be  able 
to  get  another  story." 

Then  they  went  down  to  the  bank  and  had  the 
check  cashed  and  Hal  counted  out  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  dollars  which  he  gave  to  Hans  who  im- 
mediately put  his  in  the  bank  again,  to  his  own  credit, 
while  Hal  rolled  his  up,  put  a  rubber  band  around 
it  and  stuffed  it  in  his  trousers'  pocket. 

132 


CHAPTER    XIV 

PREPARATIONS   AT   THE    RIVAL   COLLEGE 

THE  progress  of  the  nine  was  quite  satisfactory 
to  Hughie  and  the  coaches  and  they  began  to  feel 
as  though  they  had  the  championship  again  in  their 
inside  pockets,  and  they  were  right  in  thinking  so, 
because  never  before  in  all  the  ball  teams  put  to- 
gether, in  college  or  out,  had  there  been  so  many 
individual  stars  on  any  one  team. 

"  This,"  said  Hughie,  talking  with  Penny  who 
had  been  down  for  a  week,  "  has  been  the  greatest 
luck  that  any  baseball  manager  ever  had,  to  find  him- 
self at  the  beginning  of  the  training  season,  with  five 
of  the  most  important  positions  of  the  team  vacant 
and  then  to  discover  among  the  freshmen,  a  bunch 
of  fellows  like  Case,  Hagner,  Robb,  Talkington  and 
Radams  who  make  good  right  away.  Of  course, 
I'd  not  tell  them  so  to  their  faces,  but  those  fellows 
are  playing  their  positions  better  than  any  fellows 
who  ever  played  those  corners  before.  They  ought 
to  be  world's  champions.  Those  boys,  especially 
when  steadied  by  the  more  experienced  bunch  we 
have  left,  Everson,  Larke,  Gibbs,  Black  and  Delvin, 
ought  to  beat  any  team  in  the  world." 

"  They  haven't  been  beaten  yet,"  said  Everson, 

133 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

who  just  came  up,  "  and  I  don't  think  we  are  going 
to  be  licked  this  year.  Did  you  ever  see  such  a  bunch 
of  stars?" 

"If  Jefferson  College  has  anything  like  our  kind 
of  luck  in  discovering  stars  among  the  freshmen, 
there  will  be  the  hottest  series  of  ball  games  that  ever 
was  played  anywhere  between  two  teams,"  said 
Penny. 

"  It's  hardly  possible  that  Jefferson  should  have 
anything  like  the  same  kind  of  luck,"  remarked 
Hughie. 

Meantime,  however,  some  very  similar  talk  was 
going  on  at  Jefferson. 

"  They  licked  us  at  football  this  year  all  right 
and  I  still  think  it  was  mostly  luck  that  they  did/' 
said  Captain  and  Manager  Frank  Church  to  his 
coaches  and  captains  about  this  same  time,  "  but 
we've  got  them  this  year  on  the  ball  game.  Won't 
Lowell  be  surprised  though  when  we  turn  'em  inside 
out  on  the  diamond." 

"  Did  you  ever  know  of  anybody  else  having  the 
kind  of  baseball  luck  we  have  had  this  year? " 
asked  Tommy  Beach,  center  fielder  on  the  Jefferson 
team  and  good  friend  of  Church's. 

"No,"  said  Church,  "I've  seen  the  bad  luck 
come  in  bunches  often  before,  such  as  having  a  half 
dozen  of  the  team  put  out  of  the  game  on  account 
of  injuries  in  a  day,  but  no  one  ever  had  the  good 
luck  we  have  had  in  picking  out  fine  kids  from  a 
bunch  of  freshmen  recruits,  and  have  them  develop 
into  stars  after  the  few  games  we  have  played." 

134 


PREPARATIONS    AT    RIVAL    COLLEGE 

'  This  Lowell  crowd  has  put  it  over  us  in  the 
past,"  said  Big  George  Mellen,  star  pitcher  of  the 
Western  college,  "  but  methinks  that  when  we  have 
finished  our  games  with  them  this  year,  with  the  team 
we  have  now,  this  bunch  of  fellows  will  have  wiped 
out  not  only  all  the  disgrace  of  the  football  defeat, 
but  also  the  long  string  of  baseball  beatings  they 
have  handed  us  in  the  past  years." 

About  this  time,  too,  various  graduates  of  Lowell 
who  lived  in  the  West  and  had  had  a  chance  to  see 
some  of  the  games  which  Jefferson  had  played  with 
other  Western  colleges,  began  to  think  that  Church 
had  finally  succeeded  in  putting  a  team  together  that 
would,  if  they  kept  up  the  pace  which  they  had  set 
for  themselves,  give  Lowell  a  pretty  hard  tussle. 

They  could  not  quite  speak  what  was  really  their 
true  opinion  because  of  their  great  belief  in  Jenkins, 
but  when  they  looked  way  down  deep  in  their  hearts 
they  not  only  felt  these  Western  boys  might  give 
Lowell  a  pretty  good  tussle,  but  they  were  very  much 
afraid  they  would  take  the  championship.  So  they 
began  sending  what  seemed  at  first  to  their  friends  at 
Lowell  to  whom  they  wrote  some  wonderful  stories 
of  the  star  players  on  the  new  team  at  Jefferson  Col- 
lege, and  gave  many  warnings  that  at  last  Church  had 
a  real  ball  team,  and  that  when  he  brought  his  boys 
to  Lowell  the  championship  would  at  least  be  in 
danger. 

George  Davids  wrote  to  Delvin  about  a  fast 
shortstop,  who,  strange  to  say,  had  come  from  the 
East  to  attend  this  Western  college.  "  His  name  is 

135 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Eddie  Hollins,"  wrote  George,  "  and  he  is  a  star 
performer.  He  came  direct  here  from  Columbus 
College  and  I  am  surprised  that  you  didn't  hear  of 
him  in  time  to  induce  him  to  go  to  Lowell.  Of 
course,  you  wouldn't  be  looking  for  a  shortstop  if 
you  still  had  Brinker,  and  I  hope  you  have  had  some 
luck  in  getting  a  new  one.  Hollins,  however,  is  very 
fast  on  the  bases  and  a  wonderful  fielder.  Besides 
he  is  a  crack-a-jack  with  the  bat.  You  know  I  once 
had  an  idea  about  playing  short  myself,  but  this  boy 
acts  as  though  he  had  years  of  training  under  Joe 
himself." 

From  Amos  Russell  came  a  long  report  to  Black 
about  a  wonderful  pitcher  that  had  been  discovered. 
"  His  name  is  Cam,"  wrote  Russell,  "  and  his  curves 
are  longer  and  wider  than  his  name.  He  was  born 
in  Kentucky  which  explains  why  he  happened  to  come 
to  Jefferson.  He  is  a  right  hander,  with  great  speed, 
sharp  curves,  and  he  is  long  on  control.  I  really 
think  you  had  better  send  some  one  out  here  to  look 
the  whole  team  over.  You  may  be  able  to  discover 
some  weak  points.  I  have  looked  them  over  several 
times,  and  I  think  that  for  once  dear  old  Lowell  will 
have  to  hustle  if  they  beat  this  team." 

Dear  old  Pop  Anderson  took  particular  pains  to 
write  about  the  Jefferson  team  in  general.  "  I  don't 
want  to  scare  you,  my  dear  Hughie,"  wrote  Pop, 
"  but  you  had  better  be  prepared  to  outdo  even  your- 
self when  you  come  out  here  to  play  this  year's  Jef- 
ferson team.  We  didn't  have  such  a  very  easy  time 
with  them  last  year,  though  the  effort  it  cost  made 

136 


PREPARATIONS   AT    RIVAL    COLLEGE 

the  victory  just  that  much  sweeter.  You  asked  me 
to  write  you  fully  of  what  I  think  and  I  will  do  so. 
"  At  first  base  they  have,  of  course,  Frank  Church 
who  is,  as  you  know,  still  the  captain-manager.  I 
need  not  say  much  about  him  because  you  know  he 
is  one  of  the  greatest  first  basemen  ever  known,  and 


Ca.pt *' tv 


it  was  his  ability  as  a  manager  you  had  to  beat  last 
year.  I  hope  you  have  found  some  one  nearly  as 
good  as  Penny  to  play  first.  You  will  need  him." 
Hughie  chuckled  to  himself  as  he  thought  of  his  own 
wonder  at  first  base. 

"  At  second,"  wrote  Pop  further,  "  they  have  as 
you  know  La  Joy  who  is  one  of  the  best  batters 
around  in  the  West.  He  also  is  as  fine  a  fielder  as 
ever,  but,  of  course,  you  have  Johnny  Everson  and 

137 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

you  need  not  worry  about  that  position.  At  third, 
Laird  was  on  last  year's  team,  the  best  third  sacker 
they  ever  had  out  here  and  better  this  year  than  ever. 
At  short  they  have  a  youngster  named  Hollins.  He 
is  a  wonder  and  a  great  batter.  He  is  brilliant,  heady 
and  fast,  and  is  a  dangerous  player  both  at  bat  and 
on  the  bases.  He  can  play  second  even  better. 

"  They  seem  to  have  had  a  good  deal  of  luck  in 
picking  up  freshmen  youngsters  who  can  fill  the  holes 
in  the  team  made  by  the  graduations  of  last  year.  I 
think  this  Hollins  is  a  great  shortstop,  and  I  hope 
you  have  found  a  good  one  in  Joe's  place,  as  you  will 
surely  need  him."  Again  Hughie  smiled  to  himself. 
He  was  no  doubt  thinking  of  Hagner,  his  big  awk- 
ward-looking shortstop.  Whenever  Hughie  wanted 
to  feel  real  good  he  drew  a  mind  picture  of  Hagner 
going  after  a  hot  grounder  or  a  Texas  Leaguer  out 
his  way. 

"  They  have  a  great  right  fielder  out  here  named 
Twitchell,  also  a  new  man  in  the  position.  He  is  a 
fine  batter  and  a  good  thrower.  In  center  is  Thomas 
Beach,  just  as  good  in  the  field  chasing  flies  as  he  was 
a  couple  of  years  ago  at  third  base.  You  will,  I 
know,  never  forget  the  trouble  this  young  Beach  per- 
son has  caused  Lowell  teams.  In  the  past,  reports 
of  the  first  inning  in  so  many  games  read  *  Beach  got 
a  double  or  triple  to  left.' 

"  One  thing  I  have  noticed,  though,  Beach  is  still 
weak  when  it  comes  to  getting  caught  at  third.  Do 
you  remember  how  last  year  King  caught  him  off 
third  three  times  when  with  Church  on  first  and 

138 


PREPARATIONS   AT    RIVAL    COLLEGE 

Tommy  on  third,  they  attempted  a  double  steal? 
I've  seen  him  get  caught  twice  this  year  the  same  way. 
Funny,  isn't  it,  that  he  can't  get  over  that  play.  He 
just  can't  resist  the  temptation  if  the  catcher  makes 
a  motion  as  if  to  throw  to  second  to  stop  a  steal,  to 
make  a  false  start  toward  the  plate,  and  when  the 


catcher  throws  to  third  instead  of  second,  Beach  gets 
caught  almost  every  time.  Hope  you  can  work  it 
on  him  this  year  again. 

;'  Warcford  in  left  is  only  a  fair  fielder,  but  a  won- 
der with  the  bat.  He  comes  from  Kansas  and  is 
likely  to  make  trouble  at  any  time  with  his  stick.  He 
hits  all  kinds  of  pitching. 

"  You  will  have  finally  to  deal  with  George  Mellen 
in  the  pitcher's  box.  He  is  better  than  ever. 
He  has  won  twelve  straight  games  this  year  and  is 

139 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

almost  as  good  a  batter  as  any  man  on  the  team. 
There  is  also  a  young  pitcher  named  Cam  who  prom- 
ises to  be  a  wonder.  For  catcher  they  have  a  young- 
ster, a  freshman  named  Roger  Brest.  This  fellow  is 
a  wonder  also.  Of  course,  with  Gibbie  on  the 
team — and  I  think  he  ought  to  be  fine  this  year — you 
may  have  the  advantage  of  a  catcher  with  experience 
on  big  college  teams,  but  Brest  seems  to  be  a  find, 
and  I  think  is  as  good  as  any.  On  the  whole,  they 
seem  to  have  had  remarkable  luck  out  here  with  the 
team  this  year. 

"  It  will  take  all  your  ability  as  manager  and  as 
good  a  team  as  you  had  last  year  to  beat  them,  and 
if  they  keep  up  the  pace  they  have  set  with  the  smaller 
colleges  out  here,  you  may  have  the  fight  of  your  life 
on  your  hands.  They  haven't  been  scored  on  as  yet. 
I  hope  you  have  something  good  up  your  sleeve.  If 
you  have  had  any  luck  with  your  recruits,  we  ought 
to  have  the  best  series  of  games  of  college  ball  ever 
played  between  two  nines  in  the  history  of  the  sport, 
and  with  an  even  break  of  the  luck,  it  will  be  the  best 
team  to  win." 

Of  course  all  of  the  reports  from  all  sources  were 
laid  before  a  committee  consisting  of  Hughie,  Ever- 
son,  Larke,  Gibbie,  and  one  or  two  others.  It  made 
even  Hughie  a  little  anxious.  In  the  enthusiasm 
over  his  team  he  hadn't  given  much  thought  to 
Lowell's  great  rivals,  because  he  couldn't  see  how 
another  school  could  have  such  luck  as  he  had  in 
finding  stars.  Every  fellow  on  the  nine  was  a  won- 
der, in  his  opinion.  It  looked  like  an  all-star  team. 

140 


PREPARATIONS   AT    RIVAL    COLLEGE 

They  went  over  the  reports  together  and  com- 
pared the  two  teams,  man  for  man,  as  best  they  could. 
The  result  was  enough  to  make  them  anxious  and 
they  finally  decided  to  send  Young,  the  coach,  who 
could  tell  a  real  ball  player  across  a  fifty-acre  lot,  out 
to  Jefferson  to  look  over  the  rival  team  and  get  as 
many  pointers  as  he  could. 

No  doubt  some  fellow  from  Jefferson  had  already 
been  looking  the  Lowell  team  over  in  action  or  would 
be  around  soon,  but  of  course  there  was  no  way  to 
prevent  this,  and  besides  there  was  no  reason  why  it 
shouldn't  be  done.  The  rivalry  between  the  two 
schools  was  of  the  keenest,  in  every  way. 

On  the  whole  the  boys  decided  that  if  the  team 
kept  on  as  they  had- been — working  together  like  a 
machine — and  if  they  could  avoid  a  slump,  they 
would  have  just  as  good  a  chance  to  win  as  the  other 
fellows,  and  perhaps  a  little  better.  They  were  the 
champions  and  had  been  for  years;  and  this  would 
give  them  a  slight  advantage. 

So  they  worked  a  little  harder  in  practice,  trying  to 
perfect  themselves  more  and  more  in  their  signal  and 
other  inside  work,  and  every  man  on  the  team 
pledged  himself  again  and  again  to  Hughie  to  try  a 
little  more  earnestly  than  he  had  before,  if  that  were 
possible,  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  university. 
And  this  helped  them  to  keep  from  getting  nervous 
when  they  thought  of  these  reports  of  Church's  team 
at  Jefferson. 


141 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE    "  LOWELL   REPORTER  " 

THE  Lowell  Reporter  was  the  college  paper  of 
the  University.  It  appeared  once  a  week  and  in  it 
was  printed  all  the  news  of  the  college  world,  and 
announcements  of  various  kinds.  The  advertising 
columns  furnished  an  opportunity  for  a  couple  of 
young  hustlers  to  earn  enough  money  soliciting  ad- 
vertisements to  keep  them  in  school. 

The  paper  was  edited  entirely  by  the  students  un- 
der the  watchful  eye  of  the  faculty  and  especially 
of  Professor  Bennett,  assistant  teacher  of  English 
and  of  many  years1  experience  as  a  newspaper  writer 
and  editor.  He  also  had  under  his  direct  supervision 
a  small  class  in  journalism,  a  department  which  had 
but  recently  been  founded.  The  University  let  the 
students1  committee  publish  the  paper  themselves, 
i.  e.,  to  get  it  ready  and  then  just  before  being 
printed,  Professor  Bennett  would  go  over  the  copy 
in  order  to  be  sure  that  nothing  contrary  to  the  policy 
of  the  University  was  published  and  once  in  a  while 
to  curb  the  enthusiasm  of  this  or  that  writer,  when  he 
allowed  his  imagination  to  prepare  any  article  that 
was  not  in  keeping  with  the  dignity  of  the  institution. 

Timothy  Murnin,  a  young  Irish  lad  of  American 
parentage,  was  one  of  the  two  fellows  who  kept 

142 


THE    "  LOWELL    REPORTER" 

themselves  in  college  by  hustling  for  advertisements 
for  the  Reporter.  Timothy's  one  ambition  was  to 
be  the  owner  and  editor  of  a  big  city  newspaper,  and 
his  job  of  hustling  for  advertisements  was  the  best 
start  he  could  have  made  in  that  direction  if  he  only 
knew  it. 

Besides  attending  to  his  studies  and  getting  most 
of  the  advertisements  for  the  Reporter,  Tim  added 
to  his  many  duties,  by  request  of  the  student  body, 
the  job  of  reporting  all  the  sporting  events  of  the 
college.  His  many  duties  didn't  give  him  a  chance 
to  indulge  in  any  of  the  games  himself,  but  he  had  a 
wonderful  knowledge  of  all  the  sports,  football, 
baseball,  basketball,  track  work  and  everything.  In 
baseball  he  was  particularly  fit.  Like  all  good 
healthy  boys  in  this  country  he  loved  the  great 
American  game  of  Baseball.  He  loved  it  for  the 
same  reason  that  millions  of  others  loved  it — its 
squareness  and  thrills. 

He  knew  the  game  from  "  soup  to  nuts,"  as  he 
would  say  in  talking  about  the  ability  of  this  or  that 
great  player.  He  could  give  you  offhand  the  rec- 
ords of  all  the  great  college  teams  in  the  country  for 
twenty  years  back  and  the  individual  fitness  of  al- 
most every  player.  He  had  them  all  on  his  finger 
tips,  and  his  reports  of  the  games  at  college  were 
filled  with  items  showing  that  this  first  baseman  acted 
like  old  Pop  Anderson,  yonder  pitcher  reminded  him 
of  Russell,  or  some  young  catcher  threw  down  to  sec- 
ond like  Charley  Burnett,  or  that  so  and  so  stood  up 
to  the  bat  like  old  Dan  Brewers  or  King  Kelly. 

143 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Once  in  a  while  he  surpassed  himself,  and  his  re- 
port of  a  dull  and  uninteresting  game  was  many 
times  more  exciting  and  enjoyable  than  the  game  it- 
self. Such  a  game  was  the  one  the  team  played  with 
Barber  College  along  about  the  middle  of  April. 
The  team  had  been  going  along  pretty  well  in  the 
half  dozen  or  more  games  which  had  been  played 
with  the  minor  colleges,  all  of  them  preparatory  to 
the  bigger  games  toward  the  close  of  the  season. 
Lowell  had  had  a  rather  easy  time  of  it  up  to  the 
fourth  inning,  at  which  time  the  score  stood  7  to  o  in 
favor  of  the  Varsity.  The  game  had  been  played  in 
a  drizzle  of  rain,  the  ball  was  wet,  the  grounds  slip- 
pery, and  errors  were  the  rule  instead  of  the  excep- 
tion. Fielders  had  tumbled  over  themselves  chasing 
balls  over  the  wet  grass,  and  players  who  had  at- 
tempted the  fall-away  slide  could  hardly  be  recog- 
nized on  account  of  their  mud-stained  uniforms. 

In  the  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  innings,  Miner 
had  given  way  to  Babe,  as  the  game  looked  safe  and 
Babe  had  an  off  day,  for  Barber  secured  six  hits  in 
the  three  innings,  which,  mixed  with  the  errors,  en- 
abled the  visitors  to  pile  up  five  runs  while  the  Low- 
ell team  was  doing  nothing  in  the  tally  line. 

The  game  ended,  however,  with  Lowell  still  two 
runs  to  the  good  and  the  game  was  ours,  but  this  is 
the  way  Tim's  report  of  parts  of  it  looked  in  the 
Reporter  the  next  day  after  he  had  reduced  his  idea 
of  the  contest  to  writing.  Here  it  is: 

LOWELL,  7;  BARBER,  5. 
144 


THE    "LOWELL    REPORTER " 

Jones,  one  of  the  big  family,  the  first  to  swing  the 
willow  for  the  enemy,  pushed  a  grass  cutter  to  Hag- 
ner,  who  relayed  it  to  the  custodian  of  the  first  salt 
bag.  Knight  hit  a  sun  scraper  into  the  meridian  and 
Gibbie  pocketed  it  on  the  return  trip.  Wilson  stung 
the  pellet  to  Robbville,  which  Ty  annexed  without 
leaving  his  office. 


Ross  launched  a  Lusitania  to  Amberg,  which 
broke  down  in  midocean.  Everson  loafed  around 
the  rubber  for  four  misfits  and  got  them.  Little 
Arthur  stung  a  beauty  over  the  near  station,  which 
took  him  to  the  first  stop  and  opened  the  switches 
for  Everson's  run  to  the  middle  junction,  Hagner 
bumped  a  daisy  scorcher  to  Joe,  which  the  latter 
pickled,  but  it  went  as  a  sacrifice,  as  Delvin  navi- 

H5 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

gated  to  second  and  the  Human  Crab  breezed  to 
third.  Ty  swung  his  trusty  locust  against  the  first 
groove  cutter  and  the  horsehide  stamped  his  initials 
on  the  Clubhouse  flag  pole,  while  he  almost  beat 
Everson  and  Little  Arthur  to  the  water  cooler  after 
his  circle  of  the  bags.  Mr.  Talkington,  while  wait- 
ing on  four,  was  chased  with  three,  and  Larke  sent 
one  singing  to  the  curve  box,  which  the  slab  artist 
tossed  to  the  initial  sack  ahead  of  him. 

SECOND   INNING 

Amberg  sent  one  over  the  shortest  route  to  Ever- 
son. Wheeler  spun  three  times  and  sat  down. 
Dorner  imitated  Wheeler  perfectly. 

Black  did  what  was  expected  of  the  pitcher.  Gib- 
bie  got  a  one  timer  back  of  Wilson.  Ross  arched 
one  to  Knight.  Everson  dropped  one  in  front  of 
the  rubber,  Gibbie  annexing  the  keystone  bag. 
Little  Arthur  was  there  with  a  dew  drop  which  Wil- 
son picked  off  the  grass  too  late  to  shut  the  door  on 
either  Gibbie,  Everson  or  Delvin  who  slid  into  the 
vacant  chairs  and  all  the  seats  at  table  were  occupied. 

The  big  German  lad  leaned  gently  against  the 
leather  apple  and  knocked  it  out  of  the  orchard,  shak- 
ing the  tree  for  four  more  juicy  ones  for  LowelL 
Ty  fouled  to  Bowman.  Three  out.  Score,  7-0. 

After  that  'for  the  third,  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth 
spasms  neither  side  got  a  look  in,  although  three 
hopefuls  from  each  college  went  boldly  to  the  front, 
only  to  be  cut  down  in  their  youth,  before  crossing 
the  Rubicon. 

146 


THE    " LOWELL    REPORTER" 

SEVENTH   INNING 

In  the  stand-up  session,  however,  the  tonsorial 
artists  made  the  Lowell  hair  stand  up.  Hughie  sent 
the  Infant  in  for  a  piece  of  the  pie.  Jones,  the  first 
shaver  up,  swung  the  sign  on  a  drop  and  raised  it 
over  Arthur's  study  box  for  a  single. 


<:ome  TTV  closer 


The  fellow  with  the  after  6  P.  M.  name  waited 
patiently,  and  as  the  Babe  couldn't  see  the  plate  be- 
cause Knight  was  so  near,  he  walked.  Wilson  hit 
a  slow  one  to  Johnny  which  he  came  in  on  and 
rolled  around  the  sod  while  Jones,  Knight  and  Wil- 
son perched  on  the  salt  bags.  Hughie  wigwagged 
the  infield  to  come  close,  so  they  could  hear  the  song 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

of  the  Whirling  Sphere  and  join  in  the  chorus.  Am- 
berg  hinged  one  which  knocked  the  wind  out  of 
Hagner's  organ,  and  Johnny  picked  up  the  sphere 
and  heaved  it  at  the  Barber  band  which  was  sitting 
back  of  Gibbie  behind  the  screen,  to  make  them  join 
the  music. 

Jonesy  and  the  Utter  Darkness  beat  a  fast  tattoo 
on  the  base  lines  and  disappeared  over  the  horizon 
to  the  visitors'  bench  after  their  final  journey  toward 
the  West.  Loud  pedal  by  the  band  and  the  Barber 
chorus  and  two  tallies. 

Babe  got  himself  in  tune  by  this  time  and  whanged 
out  three  high  but  perfect  notes  which  Wheeler  tried 
to  reach  in  unison  with  him,  but  couldn't.  Wilson, 
who  had  reached  third  while  the  loud  pedal  was 
open,  was  lulled  to  sleep  by  the  sweet  strains  and 
caught  napping  by  Gibbie.  Dorner  sent  a  whistler 
out  to  Talkington  who  muffled  it  and  the  singing 
practice  was  over.  Score,  7-2. 

The  report  of  the  game  went  on  in  this  style  to 
the  end.  Tim  had  discovered  a  new  language  and 
he  was  proud  of  his  effort.  When  he  had  finished 
he  turned  in  his  copy.  A  few  minutes  after  he 
reached  home  he  was  called  to  the  telephone.  It 
was  Professor  Bennett  speaking,  and  he  asked  Tim 
if  he  could  come  around  and  see  him  right  away. 
He  had  something  to  talk  with  him  about.  When 
he  reached  the  professor's  office  he  found  him  sitting 
with  a  puzzled  expression  looking  at  some  manu- 
script which  Tim  thought  was  his.  It  was: 

148 


THE    "  LOWELL    REPORTER1* 

"  I  don't  quite  understand  this,  a —  I  suppose 
it  is  a  report  of  the  baseball  game  with  Barber  yes- 
terday.'* 

"  That's  it,"  said  Tim;  "  don't  you  think  it's 
pretty  good?  " 

"  Have  they  changed  the  baseball  terms  recently? 
I  hadn't  heard  of  it.  If  not,  and  this  is  only  an 
original  way  of  yours  of  reporting  what  took  place 
at  the  game,  I'm  afraid  that  we  will  have  to  dis- 
pense with  it.  I'm  afraid  that  coming  out  as  it  does 
with  the  O.  K.  of  the  department  of  English,  the 
Lowell  Reporter  will  be  discredited  among  the 
alumni." 

"  I  hope  you  won't  cut  it  out,"  said  Tim.  "  Yes- 
terday's game  was  mostly  a  one-sided  and  dull  affair, 
and  I  thought  I'd  liven  it  up  a  bit  by  putting  some 
spirit  into  the  report." 

"  Well,  but  the  words  and  terms  you  use  are  not 
understandable." 

"  I  think  you  are  mistaken,  Professor,  about  that. 
I  think  even  the  smallest  boy  who  knows  anything 
at  all  about  baseball  could  understand  perfectly  what 


is  meant." 


"  Suppose  we  go  over  it  together,"  said  the  Pro- 
fessor, "  and  let  me  see  if  I  can  get  an  idea  what  it 
is  all  about.  Now,  right  at  the  beginning  you  say 
Jones,  one  of  the  big  family  (I  can  understand  that) , 
the  first  to  swing  the  willow  for  the  enemy,  etc., 
what  do  you  mean  by  that?  "  asked  the  Professor. 

;<  Well,"  answered  Tim,  "  the  bat  is  made  of  wil- 
low, the  Barber  nine  is  our  enemy  for  the  time  being. 

149 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

A  grass  cutter  is  a  ball  that  is  rolled  swiftly  over 
the  grass.  Jones  hit  a  ground  ball  to  shortstop,  who 
picked  it  up  and  threw  it  to  first  base." 

"  Good,"  said  the  Professor.  "  Now  let's  see  the 
rest  of  it.  Knight  hit  a  sunscraper  into  the  meridian 
and  Gibbie  pocketed  it  on  the  return  trip." 

"  Perfectly  plain,  Professor,"  said  Tim.  "A 
high  building  is  a  skyscraper — then  a  high  ball  might 
be  a  sunscraper — the  meridian  is  directly  overhead, 
isn't  it?  Then  this  ball  that  Knight  hit  went  straight 
up  in  the  air,  very  high,  Gibbie  the  catcher  caught 
it  easily  when  it  came  down." 

"  Not  bad,"  said  the  Professor.  "  Let's  take  the 
next  line.  Wilson  stung  the  pellet  to  Robbville, 
which  Ty  annexed  without  leaving  his  office. 
What ?  " 

"  That  means,"  continued  Tim,  "  that  Wilson  hit 
the  ball  hard  to  right  field  where  Tyrus  Robb  plays, 
and  hit  it  absolutely  into  his  hands.  He  didn't  have 
to  leave  his  office  means,  he  didn't  have  to  move  to 
get  it." 

"  I  begin  to  be  interested  in  your  new  style  of 
English.  It  seems  all  right  if  you  have  a  key  handy. 
Are  you  going  to  furnish  a  glossary  of  terms  with 
each  of  your  reports  after  this,  Murnin?  " 

"Suppose  we  go  on.  Now  then  you  say:  Ross 
launched  a  Lusitania  to  Amberg  which  broke  down 
in  midocean.  What  possible  connection  can  there 
be  between  a  fast  liner  and  a  ball  game?  " 

'  You  have  it.  Fine.  Don't  you  see  how  quickly 
the  meaning  comes  to  you  when  you  get  a  start? 

150 


THE    "LOWELL    REPORTER " 

Lusitania — a  fast  liner — launched  to  Amberg — 
went  straight  for  him — broke  down  in  midocean — 
it  stopped  when  it  got  to  Amberg,  who  caught  it." 

"  Good,  now  let's  see  if  I  can  figure  it  out  myself. 
Everson  loafed  (waited)  around  the  rubber  (the 
plate)  for  four  misfits  (four  balls,  I  guess)  ;  Little 
Arthur  (must  be  Delvin)  stung  a  beauty  (a  good 
one)  over  the  near  station — near  station?  (Oh!  yes, 
third  base)  which  took  him  to  the  first  stop  (first 
base)  and  opened  the  switches  for  Everson's  (let's 
see,  where  was  Everson?  Oh,  yes,  he  got  a  base 
on  balls  and  was  on  first)  run  to  the  middle  station 
(Everson  got  to  second),  Honus  bumped  a  daisy 
scorcher  (now,  what's  a  daisy  scorcher,  Tim?)  " 

"  A  low  ball,  not  one  rolling  on  the  ground,  but 
a  little  raised,  about  as  high  as  the  daisy  blossoms." 

"  Good,  Honus  bumped  a  daisy  scorcher  to  Jones 
which  the  latter  pickled  (he  must  have  gotten  it  and 
put  Honus  out  if  it  went  as  a  sacrifice).  Delvin 
navigated  to  second  (advanced  to  second)  and  the 
Human  Crab  breezed  to  third.  (Who's  the  Crab? 
Let  me  see,  he  must  have  been  on  second.  Do  you 
call  Everson  the  Human  Crab?)  ' 

"  Yes,"  said  Tim. 

'*  This  is  the  situation  now,  isn't  it?  Everson  on 
third,  Delvin  on  second.  All  right,  now  let's  see 
what  happened." 

'  Ty  swung  his  trusty  locust  (thought  it  was  wil- 
low) against  the  first  groove  cutter  (let  me  see,  that 
must  mean  a  ball  put  over  the  plate)  and  the  horse- 
hide  (ball)  stamped  his  initials  on  the  Clubhouse 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

flag  pole  (the  ball  must  have  hit  the  flag  pole,  eh?) 
and  Ty  almost  beat  Everson  and  Little  Arthur  to 
the  water  cooler  (that's  almost  too  plain,  Tim.  Ty 
made  a  home  run  and  brought  home  Everson  and 
Delvin.  Better  improve  that  one  a  little)." 

"  I  think  it  will  average  up,"  said  Tim. 

"  All  right,"  said  Professor  Bennett.  "  What  hap- 
pened next?  Mr.  Talkington  (why  mister,  I  won- 
der?) while  waiting  for  four  (trying  to  get  his  base 
on  balls)  was  chased  with  three  (what,  get  his  base 
on  three  balls?)." 

"  No,  sir,  he  struck  out.  They  chased  him  to 
the  bench." 

"  Oh,  I  see!  "  said  the  Professor.  "  Larke  sent 
one  singing  to  the  curve  box  (that  must  be  the 
pitcher)  which  the  slab  artist  (pitcher)  tossed  to  the 
initial  sack  (first)." 

"  I  really  think  some  of  it  is  too  plain,"  said  the 
Professor,  rather  more  pleased  than  he  would  let  on. 
He  found  himself  quite  an  adept  in  this  new  lan- 
guage. 

"  It  improves  as  you  go  along,  I  think,"  said  Tim. 

"  Let's  see  what  happened  in  the  second  inning," 
went  on  the  Professor.  "  Barber  College  goes  to 
bat  now,  doesn't  it?  Amberg  hit  one  over  the  short- 
est route  to  Everson  (that  must  be  a  straight-line 
hit),  Wheeler  spun  three  times  and  sat  down  (spun 
what?  I  don't  get  that)." 

"  When  a  fellow  strikes  at  a  ball  hard  and  misses 
he  generally  spins  around,"  said  Tim.  "  Wheeler 
missed  three  strikes  which  he  tried  very  hard  to  hit." 

152 


THE    "LOWELL    REPORTER" 

"  I  see,"  said  the  Professor,  "  and  Dorner  did 
the  same.  So  Black  struck  out  two  in  succession, 
eh?" 

"  Black  'was  Black  the  first  man  up?)  did  what 
was  expected  of  the  pitcher.  What  is  expected  of  a 
pitcher  at  bat?  I  don't  get  that." 

"  Pitchers  generally  bat  poorly.  Black  struck 
out,"  said  Tim. 

"  Oh,  I  see!  Gibbie  is  up  next.  Gibbie  got  a 
one  timer  (that's  a  one-base  hit,  I  guess)  back  of 
Wilson  (let  me  see,  where  does  Wilson  play?  Oh, 
yes,  third!).  Gibbie  got  a  one-base  hit  back  of  third 
(very  plain),  Ross  arched  one  to  Knight  (an  arch- 
ing fly),  Everson  dropped  one  in  front  of  the  rub- 
ber (a  bunt,  I  am  getting  on  splendidly  again),  Gib- 
bie annexing  the  keystone  bag  (Gibbie  got  to  sec- 
ond), Little  Arthur  was  there  with  a  dew  drop  (dew 
drop?  What's  a  dew  drop,  Tim?)." 

"  A  little  fly  ball  that  comes  down  out  of  the  sky 
and  lights  on  the  grass  without  touching  anything," 
said  Tim.  • 

44  Oh,  I  see !  it  was  a  little  fly  that  should  have 
been  caught,  but  no  one*  got  there  in  time.  Wilson 
picked  it  up  too  late  to  shut  the  door  on  either  Gib- 
bie, Everson  or  Delvin  (couldn't  prevent  them  from 
what?)  who  slid  into  the  vacant  chairs  (did  he  want 
to  shut  the  door  on  the  chairs?) .  You  used  a  bad  one 
there,  Tim — and  all  the  seats  at  table  were  occupied 
(bases  all  full,  eh?). 

"  The  big  German  lad  (Hagner)  leaned  gently 
against  the  leather  apple  (leaned  against  the  ball. 

153 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Do  you  call  Hagner's  style  of  hitting,  leaning?)  and 
knocked  it  out  of  the  orchard  (over  the  fence)  shak- 
ing the  tree  for  four  more  juicy  ones  (you  mean 
four  more  runs)  for  Lowell.  Ty  fouled  to  Bow- 
man. Three  out  (why,  such  ordinary  English?). 

"  After  that  for  the  third,  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth 
spasms  (innings)  neither  side  got  a  look  in  (very 
ordinary,  Tim),  although  three  hopefuls  from  each 
college  went  boldly  to  the  front,  only  to  be  cut  down 
in  their  youth  before  crossing  the  Rubicon  (you  are 
giving  out,  Tim,  this  isn't  nearly  so  good)." 

l<  Wait  until  you  strike  the  music  in  the  seventh 
inning,"  answered  Tim. 

The  Professor  went  on  reading,  "  In  the  stand-up 
session  (oh,  yes!  seventh  inning),  however,  the  ton- 
sorial  artists  (good!  the  Barbers)  made  the  Lowell 
hair  stand  up  (I  don't  get  that  one)." 

"  Gave  us  a  scare,"  explained  Tim. 

"Hughie  sent  the  Infant  in   (Infant?)  " 

"  Radams,"  said  Tim,  "  his  nickname  is  Babe." 

"  Oh,  of  course,  the  Infant,"  went  on  the  Pro- 
fessor. "  Hughie  sent  the  Infant  in  for  a  piece  of 
pie  (piece  of  pie,  why  pie?)*." 

"  Well,  the  game  was  easy  and  Hughie  wanted  to 
give  Babe  a  little  practical  experience." 

"  I  see,"  said  the  Professor,  "  very  good,  indeed, 
we  will  continue.  Jones  the  first  shaver  (he  must 
have  been  a  Barber  man)  swung  the  sign  (the 
sign?)." 

"  Yes,  the  sign — the  barber  pole — the  stick — the 
bat" 

154 


THE    "LOWELL    REPORTER" 

"Ah,  yes,  very  good;  swung  the  sign  on  a  drop 
(drop  ball)  and  raised  it  over  Arthur's  study  box 
(study  box — do  you  mean — of  course,  you  mean, 
he  raised  it  over  Delvin's  head)  for  a  single.  The 
fellow  with  the  after  6  P.  M.  name  (let  me  think. 
Guess  you'll  have  to  help  me  again,  Tim)." 

"  Read  a  little  farther,"  said  Tim. 

"  The  fellow  with  the  after  6  P.  M.  name  waited 
patiently,  and  as  the  Babe  couldn't  see  the  plate  be- 
cause Knight  was  near  (oh,  yes!  I  see  his  name 
was  Knight,  very  good,  indeed,  Babe  couldn't  see 
the  plate,  ha!  ha!)  he  walked.  Wilson  hit  a 
slow  one  to  Johnny  which  he  came  in  on  and  rolled 
around  the  sod  (Everson  must  have  fumbled),  while 
Jones,  Knight  and  Wilson  perched  on  the  salt  bags 
(very  ordinary  that  last),  Hughie  wigwagged  (sig- 
naled) the  infield  to  come  close  so  they  could  hear 
the  song  of  the  Whirling  Sphere  and  join  in  the 
chorus. 

"  Amberg  binged  (must  mean  hit)  one  which 
knocked  the  wind  out  of  Honus'  organ  (the  ball 
hit  Hagner  in  the  stomach,  I  should  say,  from  read- 
ing that),  Johnny  picked  up  the  sphere  (ball)  and 
heaved  it  at  the  Barber  band  sitting  back  of  Gibbie, 
behind  the  screen,  to  make  them  join  the  music  (he 
threw  wild  and  high  past  Gibbie),  and  Jonesy  and 
the  Utter  Darkness  (Utter  Darkness?  Oh,  yes! 
Knight  again)  beat  a  fast  tattoo  on  the  base  line 
and  disappeared  over  the  horizon  to  the  visitors' 
bench  after  their  final  journey  toward  the  West. 
(Now,  if  I  understand  that,  it  means  Jones  and 

155 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Knight  both  scored  and  went  and  sat  down  on  the 
bench  with  their  fellow  players.  Is  that  the  idea?)  v 

"  It  is,"  said  Tim. 

"  Well,  we'd  better  finish  this  inning,  anyhow. 
Babe  got  himself  in  tune  by  this  time  (you  mean  he 
got  in  harmony  with  the  requirements  of  his  job, 
I  suppose)  and  whanged  out  three  high,  but  perfect 
notes  (he  sent  up  three  good  balls),  which  Wheeler 
tried  to  reach  in  unison  with  him  (Wheeler  tried  to 
hit  each  of  them)  but  couldn't  (in  other  words, 
Wheeler  struck  out)  ;  Wilson,  who  had  reached  third 
while  the  loud  pedal  was  open  (let's  see,  Wilson 
had  got  to  first  on  Johnny's  error.  Then  this  must 
mean  he  got  around  to  third  when  Johnny  made  the 
wild  throw  past  Gibbie),  was  lulled  to  sleep  by  the 
sweet  strains  (was  so  delighted  that  he  got  care- 
less) and  was  caught  napping  by  Gibbie  (Gibbie 
caught  him  off  third  base),  Dorner  sent  a  whistler 
(a  fast  one)  out  to  Talkington  who  muffled  it  (do 
you  mean  muffed?  Oh,  no,  I  see!  he  caught  it 
and  that  muffled  its  whistle),  and  the  singing  prac- 
tice was  over.  Score,  7-2. 

"  I  think  that  is  about  all  I  can  hope  to  learn  in 
this  first  lesson  in  your  new  language,  Murnin,"  said 
Professor  Bennett,  resuming  some  of  the  dignity 
which  he  had  dropped  when  he  had  become  inter- 
ested. "  When  I  first  saw  this  I  thought  it  wouldn't 
do  at  all,  but  there  seems  to  be  something  about  this 
new  language  of  yours  which  makes  the  report  of 
a  ball  game  quite  interesting,  and,  I  shall,  therefore, 
let  the  story  go  in  the  Reporter.  I  wish,  however, 


THE    "  LOWELL    REPORTER  " 

that  you  would  write  out  a  class-room  copy  of  the 
report  in  plain  English  so  that  I  can  have  a  defense 
handy  in  case  any  one  asks  questions  of  me." 

Tim  did  this  but  the  report  of  the  game  as  it  ap- 
peared in  the  Reporter  was  so  much  of  a  puzzle  that 


it  created  a  disturbance.  The  principal  trouble  was 
that  the  members  of  the  faculty  failed  to  look  at  the 
matter  in  the  same  light  that  Professor  Bennett  had, 
and  they  decided  that  future  games  should  be  re- 
ported in  the  former  style. 


157 


CHAPTER    XVI 

THE   ALUMNI    GAME 

EVERY  year  about  this  time  there  would  be  quite 
a  gathering  at  the  University  of  old  Lowell  gradu- 
ates. They  came  to  see  the  team  work,  in  one  or 
two  games  and  in  practice,  and  once  each  year  the 
graduates  would  make  up  a  nine  of  the  old  timers 
who  had  come,  and  challenge  the  new  Varsity  to  a 
game.  It  was  one  of  the  traditions  of  the  University 
that  the  old  graduates'  team  always  won  this  game, 
notwithstanding  their  stiff  knees,  and  other  joints,  to 
say  nothing  of  their  poor  throwing  arms.  The  oc- 
casion was  more  of  a  reunion  than  anything  else, 
generally.  Yet  at  .the  same  time  the  old  fellows 
were  often  able  to  give  valuable  pointers  to  the  new 
team,  and,  on  the  whole,  aside  from  the  fun  of  the  oc- 
casion, and  the  good  it  did  the  youngsters,  it  served 
to  bring  the  sons  of  Lowell  more  closely  together. 

Of  course,  the  occasion  was  always  too  good  a  one 
to  be  missed  by  the  practical  jokers,  and  the  old  grad- 
uates, with  the  aid  of  some  of  the  Juniors  and  Seniors, 
always  picked  out  the  good-natured  young  freshmen, 
to  play  these  jokes  upon.  In  the  meantime  the  fact 
that  these  practical  jokes  were  played  was  carefully 
withheld  from  them.  The  evening  before  the  game, 


THE   ALUMNI    GAME 

the  graduates  had  announced  the  team  which  would 
play  next  day. 

ist  Base Ollie  Taboo 

2nd  Base Johnny  McGrew 

3rd  Base Jimmy  Cullins 

Shortstop Bill   Fahlen 

Right  Field Mike  Donil 

Left  Field James  McKleer 

Center  Field Fielder  James 

Pitchers Joe  Maginte 

Jack  Cheeseborough 
Catcher Jim  Maquire 

All  of  them  were  old  time  stars  at  Lowell,  and 
though  out  of  the  game  were  never  forgotten  by  the 
boys  at  school,  because  they  each  had  a  sure  place  in 
the  Lowell  Hall  of  Heroes.  The  youngsters  were 
all  on  hand  to  see  them  and  hear  again  the  stories  of 
their  remarkable  playing.  On  this  occasion  there 
was  always  a  "  fanning  bee,"  as  the  boys  call  it,  and 
reviews  of  Lowell  victories  of  the  past. 

As  Hal  was  on  his  way  home  alone  that  night, 
having  stayed  around  longer  than  Hans,  he  heard 
some  one  following  close  behind  him,  and  after  he 
had  gone  a  couple  of  blocks  someone  touched  him  on 
the  shoulder  and  said,  "  Hello,  Case,  what's  the 
hurry?  "  Turning  round  he  saw  that  it  was  Johnny 
McGrew,  the  old  timer  who  was  a  great  second  base- 
man and  who  was  on  the  team  which  would  play  the 
next  day.  After  they  had  walked  a  little  way, 
McGrew  suddenly  said:  "  Case,  I  want  you  to  do 

159 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

something  for  me.  We  old  fellows  are  no  match 
for  the  wonders,  including  yourself,  which  Hughie 
has  on  the  Varsity  this  year,  and  we've  just  got  to 
win  to  keep  up  the  old  team's  reputation.  You  just 
write  down  the  signals  which  Hughie  uses,  and  that 
will  enable  us  to  lick  the  spots  off  you.  Nobody 


will  know  about  it,  and  I'll  see  that  you  get  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  dollars  for  it." 

Naturally  Hal  became  very  indignant,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  show  it  by  preparing  to  fight. 

"  Now  don't  get  mad,  kid,"  said  McGrew. 
u  Nobody  need  know.  Think  it  over  and  I'll  call 
around  at  your  room  in  the  morning  and  fix  it  up 
with  you."  Then  without  another  word  he  turned 

1 60 


THE    ALUMNI    GAME 

on  his  heel  and  went  back.  Hal  was  so  mad  he  did 
not  know  what  to  do  for  several  minutes.  His  first 
thought  was  to  go  back  to  the  hotel  where  these  old 
fellows  were  staying  and  where  he  knew  he  would 
still  find  a  large  number  of  his  student  friends  and 
denounce  Johnny.  Finally  he  thought  of  Hughie 
and  he  became  almost  sick  at  the  thought  that  any- 
one would  take  him  for  that  kind  of  a  lad. 

"  I'll  go  to  see  Hughie  and  tell  him  all  about  it," 
said  Hal  to  himself.  "  As  they  have  approached  me 
and  found  I  wouldn't  do  what  they  wanted,  they  will 
probably  tackle  some  one  else  who  may  fall."  So  he 
hunted  up  Jenkins  whom  he  found  in  his  rooms  with 
Everson  and  Larke,  laying  out  the  campaign  for  the 
game  next  day.  By  this  time  Hal  was  so  angry  he 
didn't  wait  to  see  Hughie  alone,  but  blurted  out  his 
story  to  the  three  of  them.  They  were  very  much 
surprised,  and  thanked  Hal  for  coming  to  them  with 
the  warning. 

"  I  wonder,"  said  Larke,  "  if  that's  the  way  they 
win  from  us  youngsters." 

"  What's  the  matter  with  putting  up  a  job  on 
McGrew?"  said  Everson. 

"  Say,  that  would  be  a  slick  idea,"  said  Hughie. 
"  I've  got  the  scheme.  You  go  home,  Hal,  to-night 
and  say  nothing.  When  McGrew  comes  in  the  morn- 
ing you  tell  him  you'll  do  it,  but  that  I  never  give 
out  the  signals  until  after  morning  practice,  and  that 
you  will  get  them  for  him  and  hand  them  to  him 
when  the  teams  are  dressing  for  the  afternoon  game. 
Also  that  he  can  hand  you  the  money  later. 

161 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

"  What  you  really  give  him,  though,  is  a  blank 
sheet  of  paper.  He'll  walk  off  with  that,  thinking  he 
has  the  signals,  and  the  real  joke  will  be  on  him 
and  he  won't  dare  peep  while  we  can  enjoy  it 
secretly." 

Hal  did  everything  as  he  was  instructed.  McGrew 
called,  and  when  Hal  told  him  about  how  he  would 
do  it  he  said,  "  That  will  be  all  right." 

Hal  promptly  met  him  in  the  dressing  room  and 
handed  him  the  paper  at  the  proper  time,  and  he 
stuck  it  in  his  pocket.  Hughie  was,  of  course,  watch- 
ing, but  instead  of  laughing  to  himself  and  enjoying 
the  joke  on  McGrew  he  ran  over,  stuck  his  hand  in 
McGrew's  pocket  and  pulled  out  a  paper. 

'*  What  are  you  fellows  up  to,"  he  asked,  and  then 
he  opened  the  paper  and  looked  at  Hal  in  surprise. 
He  started  to  read  and  his  eyes  bulged  almost  out  of 
his  head.  "  Why,  these  are  the  day's  signals,"  said 
Hughie.  "  What  does  this  mean?  " 

"  It  means  that  one  youngster  on  the  Lowell  team 
hasn't  stood  the  test  of  loyalty  which  is  required  of 
our  Alma  Mater.  I  arranged  with  Case  last  night 
to  tip  me  off  to  the  signals  to-day  in  this  way.  I  paid 
him  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  last  night," 
said  McGrew. 

"  Is  this  true?  "  asked  Hughie.  "  Did  you  write 
this?"  as  he  handed  Hal  a  sheet  of  paper  of  the 
same  kind  he  had  handed  McGrew.  Hal  took  the 
paper  and  almost  collapsed.  On  the  paper  was  the 
following  written  in  a  very  good  imitation  of  his 
writing : 

162 


THE    ALUMNI    GAME 


"  SIGNALS." 

"  When  Hughie  uses  a  player's  name  after  the 
word  careful,  as  for  instance  '  Careful  Johnny/  even 
though  mixed  up  in  a  lot  of  talk  from  the  coaching 
lines,  it  means  that  the  coach  has  discovered  that  the 
opposing  pitcher  is  about  to  throw  a  fast  straight 
ball,  and  Johnny  at  bat  is  thus  given  the  signal  to 
hit  at  it. 

"  With  two  men  on  bases  if  Hughie  raises  his  cap, 
it  is  a  signal  for  a  double  steal. 

"  When  Hughie  pulls  grass  with  his  right  hand  it 
means  hit  the  next  ball  pitched,  and  when  he  pulls  the 
grass  with  his  left  hand  it  means  try  to  get  a  base  on 
balls.  If  he  lifts  his  left  foot  and  whistles  it  means 
that  right  field  is  the  best  place  to  hit  it,  and  if  he 
does  the  same  but  with  his  right  foot  it  means  that 
the  left  fielder  is  out  of  position  and  the  best  place  to 
knock  the  ball  is  there. 

"  When  a  batter  walks  up  to  the  plate  with  two 
bats  in  his  hand  and  one  or  more  of  his  team  mates 
on  base,  if  he  throws  the  extra  bat  behind  him  with 
his  left  hand,  it  means  that  he  is  going  to  hit  the  first 
ball  pitched. 

"  If  he  throws  the  extra  bat  away  from  him  with 
his  right  hand  it  means  that  he  has  orders  to  try  to 
get  a  base  on  balls. 

"  If  Hughie,  on  the  coaching  lines,  unbuttons  the 
top  button  of  his  sweater  it  means  that  the  fellow  on 
first  must  get  ready  to  steal  second.  If  Hughie,  on 

163 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

the  coaching  lines,  jumps  in  the  air  and  waves  his 
arms,  yelling  Eyah!  Eyah!  twice,  it  means  to  the 
batter  *  Bunt.'  If  he  only  says  Eyah!  once  it  means 
hit  it  out  as  hard  as  you  can." 


"  CATCHER'S  SIGNALS." 

"  If  the  catcher  in  telling  the  pitcher  what  kind  of 
a  ball  to  serve  up  lays  two  fingers  of  his  bare  hand 
against  the  inside  of  his  catching  mitt,  thumb  out- 
stretched, he  is  signaling  for  an  outcurve.  One  fin- 
ger means  an  incurve.  With  two  fingers  on  the 
glove,  thumb  turned  under,  a  low  outcurve  is  wanted. 
If  with  one  finger  on  the  glove,  thumb  turned  under, 
a  low  curve  is  asked  for.  The  whole  hand  doubled 
up  in  the  glove  means  *  send  one  wide  of  the  plate,  I 
have  detected  a  signal  to  steal.'  Holding  out  the 
gloved  hand  without  touching  it  with  the  other 
means  send  a  straight  ball  waist  high  right  over  the 
plate." 

It  was  an  exact  copy  of  the  signals  which  Hughie 
had  given  out  in  the  morning.  Hal  was  mad.  He 
never  was  so  mad  before  in  all  his  life.  He  was  mad 
enough  to  kill  some  one. 

"  I  can  lick  any  fellow  that  suggests  such  a  thing, 
and  I  am  going  to  start  in  right  now  on  the  bunch 
of  you." 

The  first  fellow  he  started  for  was  Hughie.  Just 
then  Hughie  winked  at  him,  and  he  stopped  and 
looked  at  McGrew.  McGrew  was  laughing  and  so 


THE   ALUMNI    GAME 

were  all  the  rest,  for  by  this  time  the  room  had  filled 
up  with  old  graduates,  and  it  suddenly  began  to  filter 
through  Hal's  brain  that  this  was  one  of  those  harm- 
less practical  jokes  that  he  had  heard  about.  He 
thought  it  was  cruel,  of  course,  but  McGrew  said  he 
had  heard  a  lot  about  Hal  and  among  other  things 
it  was  said  that  he  was  so  even  tempered  that  he 
wouldn't  fight  with  anybody,  and  they  wanted  to  see 
what  it  would  take  to  make  him  fight.  They  were 
satisfied  now  that  he  could  be  depended  upon  to  fight 
at  the  drop  of  the  bat,  whenever  there  was  anything 
worth  fighting  about. 

Then  they  showed  him  that  each  fellow  on  the 
graduates  team  had  a  type-written  copy  of  the  sig- 
nals, anyhow,  furnished  by  Hughie.  That  was  one 
of  the  rights  which  every  player  on  the  Alumni  team 
could  enjoy  for  one  day  in  the  year.  The  old  gradu- 
ates' club  was  expected  always  to  win  its  game  with 
the  Varsity,  and  how  on  earth  would  they  have  any 
show  against  these  modern  Lowell  teams,  with  their 
inside  baseball  and  their  new  trick  plays,  if  they 
didn't  have  the  signals? 

Then  they  all  shook  hands  with  Hal  and  told  him 
he  was  a  member  of  the  "  Tried  and  True  Club  "  of 
Lowell,  and  made  him  understand  that  this  was  an 
honor  very  rarely  given  to  a  freshman,  but  that  they 
wanted  him  to  have  it  because  of  the  wonderful  work 
he  was  doing  as  a  first  baseman.  When  he  shook 
hands  with  McGrew,  however,  he  got  another 
bump. 

"  Better  give  me  back  my  one  hundred  and  twenty- 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

five  dollars  now,  old  boy.  I  suppose  you  have  it  with 
you." 

Hal  thought  of  his  half  of  the  story  money  which 
had  come  from  the  magazine,  and  it  was  in  his  trou- 
sers pocket  that  moment.  Was  this  another  one  of 
their  jokes,  and  how  did  they  know  he  had  it,  was 
what  he  thought.  What  he  said  was,  "  What  do 
you  know  about  my  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
dollars,  brother,"  and  they  all  laughed  at  Hal's  quick 
guess  this  time. 

"  Well,"  said  Fielder  James,  "  you  don't  know  per- 
haps that  I  am  connected  with  the  Out  Door  Weekly, 
but  the  other  boys  do.  The  editor,  knowing  that  I 
was  coming  up  here,  showed  me  a  story  in  a  recent 
issue  of  the  magazine  and  asked  me  to  look  up  the 
author  of  the  story,  Harold  Case,  and  arrange  with 
him  for  some  more  of  them.  I  had  seen  your  name 
mentioned  in  the  Reporter  every  week,  but  I  didn't 
connect  you  with  the  author  chap,  because  they  have 
called  you  Hal  lately  in  the  paper.  So  when  I  ar- 
rived I  was  looking  for  Harold  Case,  the  author.  I 
found  only  one  person  in  the  town  by  that  name, 
yourself,  so  I  asked  my  friend,  Jimmie  Hamilton, 
the  cashier  of  the  bank,  to  help  me  find  the  author,  he 
having  been  here  for  twenty  years,  and  I  told  him 
why.  ^ 

"  He  said  it  must  have  been  you,  as  you  were  in  the 
bank  a  few  days  before  cashing  a  check  from  the 
Out  Door  Weekly  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars, 
and  dividing  it  with  Hagner.  He  saw  you  give  some 
of  it  to  Hagner,  and  then  Hagner  deposited  one  hun- 

166 


THE    ALUMNI    GAME 

dred  and  twenty-five  dollars  to  his  own  credit 
in  the  bank  and  he  guessed  you  must  have  divided 
with  him.  That  was  the  first  time  I  got  the  idea  that 
Hans  might  have  been  a  real  live  person,  because  in 
the  college  news  he  is  of  course  referred  to  as  Hag- 
ner.  We  just  guessed  you  probably  had  the  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  in  your  pockets,  and 
so  we  arranged  the  practical  joke  to  fit  what  we  knew. 
Now  is  it  a  real  story  or  not?  " 

"  Let's  go  and  ask  Hans,"  was  all  Hal  would  say. 
When  they  did  get  to  Hans  they  made  him  tell  the 
whole  story  over  and  McGrew  said,  "  If  you  come  to 
New  York  again  let  me  know  and  I'll  lend  you  my 
auto." 

Hal  was  happy.  It  meant  a  great  deal  to  him  to 
be  recognized  by  these  older  graduates  as  their  equal, 
and  he  had  a  right  to  be  happy.  It  was  recognition 
of  his  merit  by  those  whose  opinion  was  valuable,  be- 
cause they  had  enough  practical  experience  of  the 
world  to  enable  them  to  recognize  true  worth.  None 
of  the  other  Freshmen  on  the  team  were  let  into  the 
secret  of  how  the  old  graduates  were  able  to  beat 
them  so  badly.  They  marveled  at  the  fact  that  the 
old  timers  were  on  to  every  play  that  the  boys  at- 
tempted, and  they  had  a  great  respect  for  the  old 
crowd  that  licked  the  Varsity  that  day  by  the  one- 
sided score  of  n  to  2. 

But  in  the  evening  the  old  graduates'  club  gave 
the  team  a  little  dinner  at  which  this  tradition  of  the 
university  was  explained  for  the  benefit  of  the  other 
youngsters,  Hans,  Ty,  Tris  and  Radams,  Ross  and 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Huyler.  Then  they  were  all  initiated  into  the  mys- 
teries of  the  Lowell  O.  K.  Club,  which  meant  that 
the  team  had  been  inspected  by  the  old  boys  who 
had  won  laurels  for  Lowell  in  the  past,  and  was  good 
enough  in  their  minds  to  go  against  Jefferson. 


168 


CHAPTER    XVII 

THE    MAKING   OF   A    FAN 

HIRAM  PARKER  lived  in  the  house  with  Hal  and 
Hans.  He  it  was  who  had  rented  the  third  floor 
room  at  Mrs.  Malcolm's  on  the  same  day  that  Hans 
had  moved  in.  He  had  not  arrived  until  the  day 
following  Hans  and,  as  said  before,  prepared  his 
own  meals  in  his  rooms,  and  was  such  a  quiet,  serious 
fellow  that  neither  Hans  nor  Hal  got  very  well  ac- 
quainted with  him,  or  in  fact  saw  him  very  often. 
Parker  was  a  Senior.  He  was  well  thought  of  in  the 
university,  especially  among  the  members  of  the 
Senior  Class,  who  knew  him  for  his  earnestness. 

Parker  was  a  poor  farmer's  son.  He  had  to 
work  harder  than  any  other  fellow  in  the  university, 
and  he  had  to  do  the  things  the  hardest  way.  Not 
over  bright  naturally,  he  had  to  make  his  way  by 
hard  study  and  he  was  able  by  the  force  of  his  will 
to  overcome  obstacles  which  one  with  less  determi- 
nation would  have  balked  at.  When  he  entered  the 
university  he  was  thirty-five  years  old.  He  was  so 
poor  and  the  little  money  he  earned  in  vacation  time 
was  really  such  a  small  amount  that  he  had  less  to 
spend  than  any  other  fellow  in  the  school  and  he  de- 
voted all  of  his  time  to  his  studies  and  p#id  no  atten- 

169 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

tion  to  the  social  features  of  college  life,  and  very 
little  more  to  athletic  affairs. 

Shortly  after  the  last  holiday  vacation  he  had 
found  himself  still  more  cramped  for  funds,  and  find- 
ing that  Mrs.  Malcolm  would  let  him  have  the  third 
floor  front  room  for  twenty-five  cents  per  week  less 
that  he  had  been  paying,  he  had  taken  her  room  and 
moved  in.  His  constant  struggle  was  to  be  able  to 
live  long  enough  to  get  through  his  course,  and  he 
allowed  himself  no  penny's  worth  of  spending  money, 
nor  any  recreation  whatever.  He  had  his  mind  on 
the  main  chance  all  the  time  and  for  him  it  was  to 
be  graduated  with  honors  from  Lowell. 

Parker  was  narrow-minded  then,  but  he  became  a 
great  preacher  in  later  years  and  broadened  out  a  lot. 
His  life  was  altogether  serious,  and  being  much 
older  than  Hans  and  Hal  and  having  undertaken  to 
complete  the  college  course  in  three  years  instead  of 
four  he  was  too  serious  even  for  a  fellow  of  Hans' 
disposition,  who  while  earnest  in  all  things,  managed 
to  get  the  most  out  of  life  as  he  went  along. 

Occasionally  the  boys  would  meet  Parker  on  the 
way  home  or  on  the  stairs.  Being  full  of  baseball 
all  the  time,  they  tried  to  talk  about  it  tc  Parker. 
He  would  listen  attentively  when  they  showed  their 
enthusiasm  in  this  way  and  then  he'd  say,  "  I  don't 
know  anything  about  the  game,  boys.  Never  saw 
but  one  in  my  life  and  when  it  was  over,  I  knew  less 
about  it  than  before.  It  looks  like  a  good  game  for 
a  lot  of  lunatics." 

"  You  wouldn't  think  that  way  if  you  knew  the 
170 


THE    MAKING    OF    A    FAN 

game,"  said  Hal.  "  Nothing  like  it  for  exercising 
all  the  muscles  and  keeping  you  strong  and  healthy." 

"  Clears  your  brain  just  to  watch  a  game  if  you 
understand  it,"  said  Hans.  "  Rests  your  brain  after 
the  hard  work  of  study." 

"  I  never  had  time  to  rest,"  said  Hiram.  "  Col- 
lege is  a  serious  thing  with  me." 

"  It  doesn't  pay  to  work  all  the  time,"  remarked 
Hans.  "  You  know  the  old  saying  c  All  work  and 
no  play  makes  Jack  a  dull  boy.'  ' 

"  Yes,  I  know  that,  but  I'm  strong  yet  and  I  have 
been  rather  dull  all  my  life,"  replied  Parker  without 
noticing  the  humor  of  his  remark. 

"  Why  don't  you  take  a  day  off  and  come  out  and 
see  one  of  the  games  some  day?  "  asked  Hal. 

"  Maybe  I  will  some  day,"  Parker  would  reply, 
and  would  then  go  on  up  to  his  room. 

But  the  drawing  nearer  of  the  big  games  of  the 
season  caused  a  lot  of  excitement  around  the  univer- 
sity, so  much,  in  fact,  that  even  fellows  like  Parker 
began  to  be  affected  by  it. 

On  the  day  of  the  game  with  Chadwick  College 
which  was  the  last  game  at  home  before  the  first 
game  with  Jefferson  now  only  a  week  off,  Hal  met 
Parker  coming  in  just  as  he  was  going  out  to  the 
grounds.  Hal  was  not  in  the  game  that  day.  He 
had  developed  a  bad  boil  on  his  left  hand  and 
Hughie  wasn't  taking  any  chances  on  having  that 
hand  out  of  commission  a  week  later,  by  having  it 
further  crippled. 

So  Hal  was  given  a  lay  off  from  the  team  to  give 
171 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

his  hand  a  chance  to  heal,  and  as  he  was  very  anxious 
not  to  miss  those  great  games,  he  made  no  kick  against 
Hughie's  orders.  At  the  same  time  it  was  tough  to 
think  of  sitting  in  the  stand  while  Hans  and  the 
other  boys  were  enjoying  themselves  in  the  game  with 
Chadwick  which  was  generally  an  easy  game  for 
Lowell  to  win.  Chadwick  College  was  not  in  the 
same  grade  as  Lowell,  but  sentiment  for  the  founder, 
Father  Chadwick,  known  as  the  Father  of  Baseball, 
and  the  memory  of  what  he  had  done  for  the  great 
sport  served  to  keep  the  game  on  the  regular 
schedule,  and  it  had  always  taken  place  just  before 
the  first  great  game  with  Jefferson. 

"  Come  on  along  to  the  game,"  said  Hal  as  he  met 
Parker. 

"  I  have  a  good  notion  to.  For  once  I  haven't 
much  to  do  to-day.  Been  thinking  for  some  time  I'd 
go  out  and  see  a  game.  I'll  go  if  you'll  find  some  one 
to  explain  it  to  me,"  answered  Parker. 

"  I'll  explain  it  to  you  myself,"  said  Hal.  "  I'm 
not  allowed  to  play  to-day  on  account  of  this  boil 
on  my  hand." 

"  All  right,  then,  I'll  surely  go." 

When  they  got  out  to  the  grounds  Hal  found  a 
couple  of  seats  in  the  stand  back  of  first  which  was 
his  favorite  place  when  watching  a  game,  as  from 
there  he  could  see  all  of  it  and  watch  all  the  plays. 
When  play  started,  though,  he  didn't  have  much  time 
to  think  of  the  game,  he  was  so  busy  answering 
Parker's  questions. 

When  Parker  had  told  him  he  didn't  know  any- 
172 


THE    MAKING   OF   A    FAN 

thing  about  the  game  of  baseball,  Hal  thought  of 
course,  he  didn't  mean  that  he  knew  nothing  at  all 
about  it.  He  supposed  Parker  would  know  what 
the  idea  of  the  game  was,  but  when  Parker  asked 
him  what  they  had  those  big  bean  bags  out  there  for, 
Hal  commenced  to  realize  that  here  was  a  fellow 
who  didn't  know  as  much  as  a  girl  even  about  the 
great  American  game. 

Once  he  had  taken  a  girl  cousin  to  see  a  game  in 
California,  and  the  foolish  questions  she  asked  him 
made  him  vow  never  to  take  a  girl  to  a  ball  game 
again. 

"  What  has  that  fellow  got  the  cage  on  his  face 
for?  "  was  one  of  the  first  questions  Parker  asked. 

"That's  Gibbie,  the  catcher,"  answered  Hal. 
u  He  stands  behind  the  plate  and  he  might  get  hit 
by  a  foul  tip." 

"  What's  a  foul  tip?  "  was  the  next  question. 

"  A  foul  tip  occurs  when  a  batter  strikes  at  a  ball 
and  almost  misses  it.  The  ball  just  touches  the 
rounded  side  of  the  bat,  and  of  course  changes  its  di- 
rection. It  does  this  so  quickly  that  the  catcher  some- 
times can't  see  it  and  it  might  hit  him  on  the  head," 
replied  Hal. 

"  I  see,"  said  Parker.  This  was  during  practice 
before  the  game. 

"What's  the  idea  of  the  game  anyhow?"  asked 
Parker  next. 

"  Well,"  began  Hal,  looking  at  Parker  to  see  if 
he  was  serious  or  joking.  Parker  was  serious. 
"  There  are  nine  men  on  each  side.  One  side  goes 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

out  in  the  field  and  the  other  side  is  at  bat.  When 
there  are  three  out  they " 

"  I  thought  you  said  nine  were  out,"  broke  in 
Parker. 

"  No,  there  are  only  three  put  out.  I  guess  you 
were  thinking  about  what  I  said  that  one  team  of  nine 
players  takes  position  in  the  field  to  catch  the  ball." 


"  Does  it  take  nine  men  to  catch  a  ball?  "  asked 
Parker. 

"  No,  only  one,"  said  Hal,  "  but  they  have  a  man 
in  each  of  the  locations  where  the  ball  is  likely  to 
be  hit." 

The  people  in  the  seats  in  front  turned  around  to 
look  at  Parker  to  see  who  it  might  be.  They  wanted 
to  see  what  a  fellow  looked  like  who  was  as  ignorant 

174 


THE    MAKING    OF   A    FAN 

of  the  great  American  game  as  he  seemed  to  be. 
Just  then  the  game  began,  the  umpire  said  "  play 
ball,"  and  after  Hal  had  told  him  that  the  umpire 
was  the  judge  of  play,  Hal  and  Parker  directed  their 
attention  to  the  diamond.  Presently  the  pitcher 
threw  the  ball.  Ross  was  at  bat.  It  was  a  ball  and 
Ross  didn't  strike  at  it. 

"  Why  didn't  he  hit  it?  "  asked  Parker. 

"  It  wasn't  the  right  kind  of  a  ball  to  strike  at," 
replied  Hal. 

"Do  they  use  different  kinds  of  balls?"  asked 
Parker. 

"  No,  they  use  the  same  ball  all  the  time."  Hal 
saw  that  he  would  have  to  explain  about  balls  and 
strikes. 

'  You  see,  a  batter  can  get  four  balls  or  three 
strikes.  If  he  gets  four  balls  he  runs  to  the  base. 
If  he  gets  three  strikes  he's  out." 

'  Why  don't  he  always  take  the  four  balls?  " 

"  Well,  you  see  the  pitcher  fools  him." 

"How?" 

;'  The  pitcher  tries  to  make  the  batter  think  balls 
are  strikes  and  strikes  are  balls." 

"  Doesn't  the  batter  know  the  difference?  " 

"  Not  until  the  umpire  tells  what  it  is.  Some- 
times even  the  pitcher  doesn't  know  if  it  is  a  ball  or 
strike  until  the  umpire  says  what  it  is,"  explained 
Hal.  He  was  thinking  of  the  many  times  umpires 
have  called  balls  when  the  pitchers  thought  they  were 
over  the  plate. 

"  Then  what's  the  use  of  having  a  batter?  "  asked 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

Parker,  bringing  his  logic  into  play.  '  Why  don't 
the  batters  stand  up  in  line  behind  the  umpire  and 
let  him  tell  each  one  in  his  turn  if  it's  a  ball  or  a 
strike?" 

Before  he  could  answer,  however,  Ross  had  hit 
the  next  ball.  The  umpire  called  "  foul  ball "  and 
the  Chadwick  shortstop,  third  baseman,  and  catcher 
were  all  running  to  make  the  catch  as  it  was  a  high 
foul  over  toward  the  third  base  stands. 

"  What  are  they  all  running  for?  "  asked  Parker. 

'  To  catch  the  ball,"  answered  Hal. 

"  I  thought  you  said  it  only  took  one  man  to  catch 
a  ball." 

Again  Hal  tried  to  explain. 

"  You  see,  when  a  batter  hits  the  ball  the  fielders 
try  to  stop  it  and  throw  it  to  the  base  ahead  of  the 
runner.  If  the  ball  gets  there  before  the  batter,  he's 
out.  If  he  gets  there  first  he  is  still  in  the  game. 
The  player  who  throws  to  the  base  is  credited  with  an 
assist,  or  a  put  out  if  he  catches  the  ball  before  it  hits 
the  ground." 

"'But  why  doesn't  the  batter  run  if  he  hit  the 
ball?" 

"  Foul  ball,"  said  Hal.  "  A  foul  ball,  that  is  a 
ball  which  strikes  the  ground  outside  of  those  white 
lines  "  (pointing  to  the  foul  lines  left  and  right) 
"  doesn't  count  as  a  hit.  For  a  hit,  a  ball  must  be 
fair,  which  means  striking  inside  those  lines.  A  foul 
ball  counts  as  a  strike,  but  if  it  is  caught  it's  an  out." 

"  I  see,"  said  Parker. 

The  game  had  meantime  proceeded.     Ross  had 


THE    MAKING   OF   A    FAN 

three  balls  and  two  strikes.  The  pitcher  sent  up  the 
deciding  one.  "  Four  balls,  take  your  base/'  called 
the  umpire.  Ross  walked  down  to  first. 

"  Why  doesn't  he  run?  "  asked  Parker. 

"  He  doesn't  have  to  run,"  replied  Hal. 

"  But  you  said  if  he  got  four  balls  he  could  run 
to  first  base."  This  showed  Hal  that  Parker  was 
absorbing  the  points  and  he  took  some  encourage- 
ment. 

"  They  usually  let  them  walk  on  four  balls,  as  he 
can  take  his  base  on  a  walk  by  the  time  the  pitcher  is 
ready  again,"  he  replied.  By  this  time  Ross  had 
reached  first  and  was  standing  there  with  one  foot 
on  the  bag. 

"  Why  doesn't  he  take  the  base  if  it  is  his?  "  was 
the  next  question. 

"  He  doesn't  really  take  the  base,"  explained  Hal. 
"  He  is  simply  entitled  to  go  to  it  and  be  ready  to 
run  to  second  base."  He  saw  that  he  would  have  to 
be  very  careful  in  his  choice  of  words  if  he  was  to 
teach  Parker  much  of  the  game.  Everson  was  next 
at  bat.  He  hit  the  first  ball  for  a  long  fly  to  left 
and  started  on  a  slow  trot  toward  first,  while  Ross 
remained  at  the  bag. 

"Why  doesn't  the  fellow  on  first  run?"  asked 
Parker. 

"  He  is  waiting  to  see  if  the  ball  is  caught,"  said 
Hal. 

"  Can't  he  run  unless  the  ball  is  caught?  "  Parker 
went  on. 

"  Not  on  a  fly.  He  has  to  wait  until  the  ball  is 
177 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

caught.  After  a  fly  is  caught  he  can  run  to  the  next 
base."  The  fielder  muffed  the  ball  and  Ross  ran 
like  the  wind  to  second,  Everson  reaching  first  easily. 

"  I  thought  you  said  he  couldn't  run  until  the  ball 
was  caught.  That  fellow  out  there  missed  it,"  came 
from  Parker. 

"  I  ought  to  have  told  you  at  first  that  if  a  fielder 
muffs  a  fly  ball  everybody  runs,  except  in  the  case 
of  a  foul,"  explained  Hal. 

1  Yes,  but  there  are  only  two  of  them  running," 
Parker  replied. 

Hal  laughed.  Everybody  near  them  was  paying 
more  attention  to  them  than  to  the  game.  They 
were  calling  Parker  "  the  Rube."  One  fresh- 
man said:  "Get  a  copy  of  the  '  Book  of  Rules/ 
Rube,  and  learn  it  by  heart  before  the  next 
game." 

The  game  proceeded  for  some  time  and  Hal  did 
the  best  he  could  to  answer  the  many  questions 
Parker  put  to  him.  He  had  his  own  troubles  when 
it  came  to  explaining  the  "  hit  and  run  play,"  "  the 
double  steal,"  and  the  "  squeeze  play,"  especially  the 
latter.  Some  one  in  the  stand  said  when  Ty  was  on 
third  base  and  Tris  at  bat  with  one  out,  "  They're 
going  to  work  the  squeeze."  They  did  work  it,  and 
successfully,  as  sometimes  happens,  and  the  fans 
yelled,  "  Did  you  notice  that  squeeze?  " 

"  I  didn't  see  anybody  get  squeezed,"  said  Parker, 
"who  was  it?" 

"Why,"  said  Hal,  "  Ty  was  on  third  and  Tris 
squeezed  him  in." 


THE    MAKING    OF    A    FAN 

"  Did  he  hurt  him?  "  asked  Parker. 

The  crowd  around  them  yelled.  Hal  knew  it  was 
almost  as  hard  to  describe  the  squeeze  play  as  to 
justify  it,  but  he  did  his  best  and  Parker  said  finally 
he  understood  it  all  right,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  he 
really  did. 

The  game  had  developed  into  a  really  exciting  one 
for  an  inning  or  two.  For  the  first  few  innings  the 
pitchers  had  held  the  batters  safe  and  there  were  few 
hits  made.  In  fact,  up  to  the  beginning  of  the 
seventh  inning  Lowell  had  secured  but  three  hits  and 
Chadwick  three.  Lowell  had  one  run,  worked  out 
by  a  two  bagger  by  Robb,  a  clean  steal  of  third  and 
he  had  been  brought  home  by  Tris  on  the  squeeze 
play  already  mentioned.  In  the  first  half  of  the 
seventh,  Chadwick  knocked  out  three  runs  on  a  couple 
of  hits  mixed  with  a  bunch  of  errors  on  the  part  of 
Lowell. 

In  the  meantime  by  repeated  explanation  of  the  dif- 
ferent plays,  Parker  had  begun  to  understand  some 
of  the  first  principles  of  the  game.  He  had  already 
gotten  to  the  point  where  he  didn't  ask  as  many  ques- 
tions. He  was  watching  the  game.  Six  short  in- 
nings of  baseball  had  planted  the  seed  out  of  which 
would  some  day  grow  a  "  full  fledged  fan."  He 
didn't  understand  much  of  it,  of  course,  but  he  had 
begun  to  feel  the  alternate  strain  and  relaxation  which 
everyone  feels  when  watching  a  game.  It  has  been 
the  same  for  years  with  all  of  us. 

When  "  our  "  side  is  at  bat  you  are  always  hoping 
the  batter  will  hit  it  safe.  You  watch  the  pitcher 

179 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

wind  up.  Your  muscles  are  tense.  You  see  the  ball 
leave  his  hands.  You  see  the  batter  prepare  to  strike 
at  it.  He  strikes  and  misses.  The  umpire  calls 
"  one  strike."  You  relax.  Again  the  pitcher  de- 
livers the  ball.  Again  the  muscles  become  tense. 
The  umpire  says  "  one  ball  "  and  again  you  sink  back 
in  your  seat  in  perfect  repose.  By  this  time  the 
pitcher  is  again  ready.  The  third  time  the  ball  is 
sent  toward  the  batter  like  a  white  streak.  Some- 
how you  feel  he  is  going  to  hit  it  this  time.  As  be- 
fore, your  muscles  become  tense.  You  hear  a  crack 
of  wood  against  leather.  You  raise  yourself  up  in 
your  seat.  It's  a  foul  fly  back  of  the  plate.  You 
see  the  catcher  throw  off  his  mask  and  run  up  for 
the  ball.  You  are  absolutely  rigid.  You  see  the 
set  and  determined  face  of  the  catcher  as  he  comes 
running  toward  you,  his  mind  on  nothing  but  the 
catch  he  hopes  to  make,  he  sees  nothing  but  the  ball. 
You,  yourself,  are  thinking  of  nothing  else.  You 
hope  he  misses  it.  Now  it's  coming  down  close  to 
the  stand.  He's  almost  under  it.  He's  going  to 
get  it.  Just  then  he  stubs  his  toe  on  a  pebble  and 
he  muffs  it.  You  are  glad.  You  relax.  You  cheer 
him  for  missing  it.  You  look  round  you.  There 
are  ten,  twenty,  forty  thousand  people,  a  moment  ago 
just  as  tense  and  rigid  as  you,  thinking  of  nothing  else 
but  that  catch,  who  are  now  settling  back  in  their 
seats,  happy  and  content,  everyone  of  them,  excepting 
of  course  the  few  "  rooters  "  for  the  other  side. 

The  next  ball   pitched  is  a  good  one,   fast  and 
straight  over  the  plate.     The  batter  sets  himself  to 

180 


THE    MAKING   OF   A    FAN 

meet  it  fair  and  square.  You  do  likewise,  as  if  you 
would  help  him.  Now  he  pulls  back  his  bat,  he 
swings,  he  meets  it  fair,  you  can  tell  by  the  sound  it 
makes  that  it's  a  long  hit.  You  see  the  center  fielder, 
look  once  to  get  the  direction,  then  turn  his  back  to 
the  ball  and  run  just  as  hard  as  he  knows  how.  You 


stand  up,  everybody  stands  up,  not  a  word  is  spoken. 
It  seems  as  though  minutes  are  passing  until  the  play 
is  decided.  Soon  you  see  the  fielder  turn  half  way 
round  to  look  and  then  he  goes  on  running.  He  is 
still  too  far  away.  You  see  him  getting  near  the 
ball,  but  not  near  enough  to  catch  it.  By  this  time 
the  ball  is  going  over  his  head.  He  has  lost  it.  No, 
he  makes  one  try  at  the  right  moment.  He  takes  a 

181 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

mighty  leap  into  the  air,  up  goes  one  hand,  the  ball 
hits  his  glove  and  sticks,  he  comes  down  to  earth,  he 
rolls  over  half  a  dozen  times  on  the  grass,  but  he 
comes  up  finally  with  the  ball  in  his  hand  and  you 
begin  to  relax.  Then  you  start  to  jump  up  and  down, 
you  wave  your  hat,  you  throw  it  up  in  the  air,  and 
wave  your  arms  and  you  try  to  yell  louder  than  your 
neighbors.  If  you  look  around,  you  will  see  forty 
thousand  people  doing  the  same.  Yelling  and  cheer- 
ing and  waving  arms,  hats  or  anything  that  comes 
within  reach.  You  are  cheering  the  other  side,  but 
you  don't  mind.  It  was  a  wonderful  catch. 

And  so  it  goes,  through  nine  whole  awfully  short 
innings  always.  Time  flies  so  quickly  at  a  ball  game. 
It's  over  before  you  want  it  to  be.  Our  side  wins! 
You  go  home  happy.  Our  boys  lose  ?  Well,  better 
luck  to-morrow. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  seventh  inning  of  the 
game  with  Chadwick,  this  Lowell  team  just  had  to 
get  at  least  three  runs,  so  Hughie  told  the  boys  and 
he  would  be  obliged  if  they  would  get  a  half  dozen. 
Everson  was  the  first  man  up  and  he  got  an  infield 
hit  to  short  which  he  beat  by  inches.  Then  the 
Lowell  boys  on  the  bench  commenced  to  get  busy,  for 
they  had  sensed  the  "  break."  There  comes  a  time 
in  almost  every  game  of  ball,  which  has  become 
known  as  the  "  break,"  when  the  game  can  be  won 
for  one  team  or  the  other.  There  is  no  definite 
period  of  the  game  when  this  occurs,  but  the  players 
seem  to  sense  it.  Let  a  batter  get  to  first  and  if  you 
see  the  players  on  the  bench  commence  to  reach  for 

182 


THE    MAKING   OF   A   FAN 

their  bats,  swing  them  a  few  times,  laugh,  get  ex- 
cited and  dance  up  and  down  like  boys  with  a  new 
toy,  you  will  know  that  the  "  break  "  has  come  then, 
and  that  the  game  will  be  won  or  lost  right  there. 
So  it  was  at  this  point  in  the  game  with  Chadwick. 

Delvin  was  the  next  man  up.  He  got  a  single  to 
right  field.  Next  came  Hans.  He  hit  a  grounder 
over  second  base  which  couldn't  be  stopped  and  the 
bases  were  full.  Ty  came  up  with  his  little  black  bat 
and  hit  the  ball  over  third  base  for  a  two  bagger  and 
Everson  and  Delvin  raced  home  for  runs.  Hans 
got  to  third  and  Ty  reached  second.  Tris  knocked 
the  ball  to  shortstop,  who  was  nervous  by  this  time 
and  made  an  error.  Hans  got  home  and  Robb 
reached  third  while  Tris  was  on  first.  One  more 
run.  The  Larke  hurried  to  the  plate  and  after  foul- 
ing off  a  couple,  hit  one  fair  and  square  and  the  ball 
made  a  high  flight  straight  for  the  left  field  fence, 
and  went  over.  A  home  run,  and  Robb  and  Tris 
scored  ahead  of  him.  The  "  break  "  was  over,  the 
opposing  players  settled  down.  The  pitcher  steadied 
himself,  recovered  his  nerves,  and  the  next  three  men 
went  out  in  order.  The  rest  of  the  game  went  along 
without  any  further  excitement.  The  "  break  "  in 
the  seventh  inning  was  the  meat  of  the  whole  game. 

Parker  and  Hal  went  through  the  inning  like  all 
the  rest.  It  got  so  exciting  for  Hal  that  he  forgot 
all  about  Parker  and  when  he  did  remember  him  he 
saw  that  Parker  had  forgotten  him.  Parker  was 
standing  up  on  his  seat  with  all  the  rest  of  them, 
bareheaded,  for  his  hat  had  been  discarded  many 

183 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

minutes  before.  His  hair  was  disheveled,  his  coat 
was  in  his  left  hand  and  he  was  whirling  it  above 
Hal's  head  while  with  his  other  hand  he  was  slap- 
ping his  neighbor  on  the  right  violently  on  the  back 
with  a  newspaper,  while  that  party  was  hugging  the 
fellow  in  front  of  him. 

"  I  see  you  have  joined  the  ranks  of  the  lunatics, 
you  told  me  about  the  other  day/'  said  Hal. 

"  Me  for  the  ball  game  after  this,"  replied  Parker. 

*  Think  of  it.     Here  it's  my  first  game  of  ball  since 

I  came  to  college,  nearly  the  last  game  of  the  year, 

and  me  a  Senior.     I've  been  asleep.     I've  missed 

things." 

'  That's  the  way  it  gets  everybody,"  said  Hal. 
"  It  surely  is  the  great  American  game." 

Parker  was  sorry  when  the  game  was  over.  It 
was  a  great  experience  for  him,  and  during  the  re- 
maining few  days  of  the  term  he  had  many  talks 
with  Hans  and  Hal  about  baseball  and  after  he  was 
graduated  and  became  a  famous  preacher  he  be- 
came and  remained  a  faithful  enthusiast.  Thus  are 
"  fans  "  made. 


184 


The  Making  of  a  Fan. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

THE   TRIP   TO   JEFFERSON 

DURING  the  second  week  in  June,  the  week  of  final 
preparation  for  the  trip  to  Jefferson  and  the  first  of 
the  three  championship  games  with  Jefferson,  final 
examinations  interfered  to  some  extent  with  the  base- 
ball practice,  but  by  getting  out  on  the  field  very  early 
in  the  morning  and  late  in  the  afternoon,  with  here 
and  there  a  special  shifting  of  the  examination  hour, 
for  this  or  that  member  of  the  team,  the  nine  put  in  a 
pretty  busy  week. 

Coach  Young  had  returned  from  Jefferson  with  a 
complete  confirmation  of  the  early  reports  about  the 
nine  that  Captain  Church  had  developed  in  the  west- 
ern college,  and  letters  kept  coming  in  daily  from 
alumni  in  the  west,  sounding  the  warning  that 
Hughie  and  his  boys  must  "  prepare  for  the  battle 
of  their  lives,"  as  Church  had  built  up  a  wonderful 
baseball  machine — one  that  it  would  be  the  greatest 
task  to  beat. 

This  talk  had  its  effect  on  the  Lowell  boys,  and 
Hughie  and  Captain  Larke  were  a  good  deal  wor- 
ried. After  a  consultation  they  decided  to  telegraph 
to  Johnny  McGrew,  Conny  McGil  and  Pop  Ander- 
son to  come  on  to  act  as  assistant  coaches  and  help 
put  on  the  finishing  touches.  Most  of  the  time  was 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

put  in  signal  and  batting  practice,  as  all  other  games 
were  out  of  the  way.  The  coaches  figured  that  with 
equal  ability  in  the  pitching  department  the  batting 
would  win  the  games,  if  backed  up  by  perfect  team 
work,  which  only  a  thorough  understanding  of  the 
signals  could  make  possible. 

Finally  the  great  day  came  for  the  trip  to  the 
western  college.  A  special  train  of  twelve  cars  was 
provided  and  with  the  cheers  of  all  of  the  students 
that  couldn't  go  along,  professors  and  the  towns- 
people, ringing  in  their  ears,  they  started. 

The  team  occupied  a  special  coach  in  the  rear  of 
the  train,  and  no  one  not  a  member  of  the  Varsity 
was  allowed  in  the  car,  excepting  of  course,  special 
coaches,  Young,  McGrew,  McGil  and  Pop  Ander- 
son. With  these  surrounding  them  in  the  car, 
Hughie,  Captain  and  Johnny  laid  out  the  plan  of 
the  coming  battle. 

They  had  their  own  private  chef  aboard,  the  same 
who  prepared  the  meals  at  the  training  table,  so  that 
with  the  exception  of  riding  across  the  country  at  the 
rate  of  sixty  miles  per  hour,  they  were  as  comfortable 
and  fully  as  much  under  training  orders  as  at  home. 
The  other  cars  on  the  train  were  occupied  by  the 
great  body  of  students  who  made  the  journey  with  the 
team  to  attend  the  game,  three  coaches  being  filled 
with  the  Lowell  Organized  Noise  Club.  All  along 
the  route,  whenever  the  train  stopped,  and  they  made 
stops  all  along  the  line  to  take  on  Lowell  Alumni — 
there  were  crowds  of  Lowell  graduates  at  the  station 
to  cheer  and  wish  them  Godspeed. 

186 


THE    TRIP   TO    JEFFERSON 

We  will  turn  our  attention,  however,  to  the  special 
car  at  the  end  of  the  train  with  the  nine. 

There  is  nothing  like  a  long  railroad  journey  to 
get  you  acquainted  with  people  and  to  give  you  a 
chance  to  note  the  peculiarities  of  the  others  in  the 
car  and  this  would  be  especially  true  in  the  car  re- 
ferred to  where  everyone  was  interested  in  one  thing. 
Every  man  on  the  train  felt  that  the  result  might  de- 
pend upon  him.  The  good  batters  would  wonder  if 
their  favorite  sticks  were  aboard. 

Ty  Robb,  quiet  and  nattily  dressed,  high  strung, 
nervous,  built  like  a  greyhound,  with  slight  waist  and 
magnificently  formed  shoulders,  small  ankles  and 
wrists  and  a  poise  to  his  head  like  the  ideal  Grecian 
youth,  came  as  near  being  a  perfect  built  athlete  as 
any  one  on  the  train;  but  even  this  well-balanced 
youth  was  not  above  being  superstitious,  for  he  got  a 
little  bit  nervous  along  about  bedtime,  and  finally 
hunted  up  his  little  old  black  bat  out  of  the  bunch  and 
took  it  to  bed  with  him. 

Hans,  directly  opposite  in  temperament,  ponder- 
ous in  his  movements,  anything  but  nervous,  but 
equally  superstitious,  saw  Ty  coming  down  the  aisle 
with  his  bat  and  went  him  one  better,  for  in  addition 
to  getting  his  favorite  bat,  he  dug  out  his  old  glove — 
the  one  with  the  hole  in  the  middle — and  slept  that 
night  with  it  under  his  pillow. 

Captain  Larke  had  no  superstitions  to  bother  him, 
nor  was  he  nervous.  His  responsibilities  as  captain 
of  the  team  never  in  any  way  interfered  with  his 
playing.  His  movements  were  always  graceful  and 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

he  had  an  eye  that  was  particularly  clear  when  It 
came  to  judging  the  speed  of  baseballs  knocked  out 
to  left  field.  One  habit,  however,  of  college  boy  life, 
the  captain  never  would  acquire.  He  was  born  in 
Kansas  and  ever  since  he  could  remember  he  had 
owned  a  big  cowboy  hat  and  the  college  boy's  cap 
was  so  insignificant  by  comparison  that  he  never 
would  wear  one  of  them.  Larke's  hat  was  a  kind 
of  mascot  with  him,  no  doubt,  for  he  always  kept  it 
on  such  trips  as  this  where  he  could  keep  his  eye  on 
it  when  not  on  his  head. 

Johnny  Everson,  small  in  physique,  but  large  in 
brains,  self-possessed  and  confident  at  all  times,  had 
made  one  of  his  nice  little  speeches  to  the  boys  at 
dinner,  and  when  he  went  to  bed  he  wasn't  thinking 
about  bats,  balls  or  gloves  or  worrying  about  the 
part  he  might  have  to  play  on  the  morrow.  He  lay 
awake  in  his  berth  a  long  time,  however,  rehearsing 
the  impromptu  speech  he  intended  to  make  at  the 
dinner  which  he  knew  the  Jefferson  boys  would  give 
the  team  whether  the  game  was  won  or  lost. 

Hughie  had  a  good  many  things  to  think  about  so 
he  didn't  get  much  time  to  let  superstition  work. 
He  was  busy  with  his  batting  order  and  signals  for 
the  coming  game,  but  just  before  going  to  sleep  he 
did  wonder  if  the  grass  at  Jefferson  was  longer  and 
thicker  at  third  base  or  at  first. 

Delvin,  like  a  number  of  the  older  fellows  on  the 
team,  had  made  the  trip  before  and  was  not  unfamil- 
iar with  sleeping  cars.  Delvin  was  a  grand  fellow 
almost  all  the  time,  quiet,  and  a  great  reader  and 

188 


THE    TRIP   TO   JEFFERSON 

he  rarely  ever  kicked  about  anything.  But  put  him  on 
board  a  sleeper  and  along  about  bedtime  you  could  al- 
ways hear  him  grumble,  and  no  wonder,  for  there 
never  was  a  berth  made  long  enough  to  accommodate 
all  of  his  length,  and  so  he  had  to  curl  up  when  he 
slept  on  a  train  and  during  the  night  Arthur  woke  up 
the  whole  bunch  several  times  with  his  grumbling. 

Gibbs,  big,  strong,  and  brainy  as  lots  of  these  boys 
are  who  came  from  Canada,  was  pretty  tired  from 
the  long  ride  with  no  activity,  and  at  bedtime  went 
to  bed  and  to  sleep  with  no  apparent  thought  of  the 
hard  work  before  him  the  next  day.  But  during  the 
night  he  must  have  dreamed  about  a  ball  game,  for 
suddenly  the  whole  car  was  aroused  by  the  noise  of 
breaking  glass  and  some  one  was  shouting,  "  You  will 
try  to  steal  on  me  will  you?  "  and  when  the  boys 
stuck  their  heads  out  from  between  the  curtains  they 
saw  Gibbie  in  one  end  of  the  car  in  pajamas  over 
which  he  had  put  on  his  shin  guards,  pad,  mask,  and 
glove  and  at  the  other  end  of  the  car  could  be  seen 
a  badly  shattered  mirror  through  which  Gib- 
bie had  just  a  moment  before  thrown  something. 
He  had  been  walking  in  his  sleep,  and  putting  on  all 
of  his  catching  outfit  had  for  five  minutes  been  mak- 
ing signals  at  himself  in  the  glass  at  the  other  end  of 
the  car.  Thinking  he  saw  a  base  runner,  he  picked 
up  what  he  though  was  a  ball  (it  was  in  reality  one 
of  Hans'  big  shoes,  and  snapped  it  at  his  own  image 
in  the  mirror  beyond.  He  missed  the  porter,  who 
happened  to  be  coming  down  the  aisle  just  then,  but 
made  a  perfect  throw  and  the  shoe  went  sailing  into 

189 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

the  mirror.  They  finally  managed  to  wake  him  up, 
but  had  a  hard  time  doing  it,  for  Gibbie  kept  saying, 
44  Don't  put  me  out  of  the  game.  I  want  to  catch 
every  game  on  the  schedule  this  season." 


try  to  rteai 


For  Hal  the  trip  was  a  great  novelty.  He  and 
the  other  freshmen  had  never  taken  a  railroad  ride 
in  a  private  car,  and  it  was  a  great  novelty  for  them. 
The  ovations  the  boys  received  at  the  different  sta- 
tions were  particularly  interesting  and  at  most  every 
station  the  Alumni  and  friends  of  Lowell,  after 
shaking  hands  with  the  old  boys  on  the  team  and 
wishing  them  good  luck,  would  always  ask,  "  Where's 
Case?  We  want  to  see  Hal  and  Hans,  also  Robb 

190 


THE    TRIP   TO    JEFFERSON 

and  Talkington."  Between  stations  he  read  a  few 
short  stories  for  boys  as  he  was  always  interested 
in  them.  Hal  was  not  known  to  be  superstitious 
and  did  nothing  on  going  to  bed  that  would  show  that 
he  was,  so  it  is  impossible  to  write  down  anything 
about  him  here  along  this  line.  Hal,  however,  did 
wear  his  cap  on  the  train  and  just  before  he  went  to 
bed  he  took  a  wad  of  chewing  gum  out  of  his  mouth 
and  stuck  it  on  the  button  on  the  top  of  his  cap. 
There  may  have  been  no  superstition  connected  with 
that,  however.  He  probably  only  wanted  to  put  it 
where  he  could  find  it. 

Huyler,  the  utility  and  pinch  hitter,  got  a  new  nick- 
name on  that  ride.  They  called  him  the  "  Candy 
Kid."  No  one  knows  who  started  it,  but  the  idea 
may  have  been  suggested  by  the  numerous  confec- 
tioners' signs  which  dotted  the  landscape  all  along  the 
route,  and  particularly  those  of  one  manufacturer 
whose  goods  were  continually  offered  by  the  newsboys 
on  the  train. 

Black,  whose  youth  was  spent  in  the  coal  districts 
of  Illinois,  was  happy  because  he  was  on  his  way  to 
his  own  state,  and  whenever  they  passed  a  trainload 
of  coal  on  the  way,  he  would  tell  the  boys  what  a 
great  business  coal  mining  was.  You  would  not 
think  he  would  have  much  love  for  coal  or  the  mines 
either,  for  as  a  boy  he  had  lost  two  of  the  fingers  of 
his  right  hand  by  getting  his  hand  caught  in  some 
machinery  at  one  of  the  mines  near  his  home  while 
playing  around  it.  But  Miner  always  said  that  if 
he  had  more  than  three  fingers  left  on  his  pitching 

191 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

hand  he  probably  could  not  throw  the  kind  of  curves 
which  he  did,  but  would  have  to  pitch  the  same  as 
others,  and  he  probably  wouldn't  amount  to  much  as 
a  pitcher  if  he  did. 

For  Babe  Radams  the  ride  was  one  of  doubt.  He 
wanted  to  get  into  the  game  the  next  day  but  only 
an  accident  to  Miner  would  give  him  a  chance,  and 
he  thought  very  likely  that  he  would  have  to  sit  on 
the  bench.  He  wouldn't  think  of  hoping  that 
Miner  would  have  to  be  taken  out  of  the  box,  but  he 
felt  confident  that  he  could  take  care  of  the  job  if  he 
got  a  real  chance,  and  perhaps  they  would  let  him 
pitch  the  second  game,  if  Lowell  won  the  first. 
Babe's  thoughts  were,  however,  all  for  the  glory  of 
Lowell  and  so  he  really  wished  that  it  wouldn't  be 
necessary  to  call  on  him  during  the  first  contest.  He 
had  acquired  a  good  deal  of  glory  as  second  pitcher 
on  the  team  and  felt  sure  that  next  year  he  would 
be  the  first  pitcher  for  the  team,  since  Miner  would 
be  out  of  school. 

Before  one  o'clock,  however,  all  the  excitement 
had  settled  down  in  the  car  and  everybody  was 
asleep.  Gibbie  had  forgotten  his  troubles  and  Del- 
vin  had  quit  grumbling,  and  the  rest  of  the  boys  were 
glad,  so  they  slept  on  undisturbed  until  the  porter 
awoke  them  about  seven  in  the  morning  and  told 
them  they  had  arrived. 


192 


CHAPTER   XIX 

BEFORE   THE    BATTLE 

WHEN  the  boys  awoke  to  find  themselves  in  the 
western  city,  the  seat  of  Jefferson  College,  a  great 
crowd  was  on  hand  to  meet  them.  They  were 
mostly  Lowell  Alumni  who  lived  in  the  towns  in  the 
West.  Many  of  them  had  traveled  hundreds  of 
miles  to  attend  the  game,  and  win  or  lose,  cheer  for 
Lowell.  A  number  of  the  members  of  the  team 
were  greeted  at  the  station  by  their  fathers  and 
mothers  and  sisters  who  had  not  seen  the  boys  since 
the  holiday  vacation.  Then  there  was  also  a  fair 
sprinkling  of  sweethearts  to  greet  them. 

There  was  nobody  to  meet  Hal,  for  his  folks 
couldn't  afford  to  come  all  the  way  from  California. 
His  father's  illness,  however,  had  not  been  serious 
and  he  had  gone  back  to  his  work  and  was  thus  able 
to  send  Hal  his  original  allowance,  so  the  boy's  worry 
about  money  was  over.  In  fact,  he  had  money  in 
the  bank,  for  Hans  had  a  long  talk  with  Hal  after 
the  Alumni  game,  and  had  convinced  him  that  it 
would  be  a  good  time  to  show  a  little  thrift,  so 
Hal  had  put  his  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars 
in  the  bank,  and  Hans  had  gotten  him  to  agree  not 
to  touch  it  until  it  was  absolutely  necessary.  He  had 

193 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

never  had  a  bank  account  before  and  he  was  proud  of 
it,  now  that  he  had  started.  He  had  not  written  any 
more  stories  for  the  Out  Door  Weekly  f  because  Hans 
had  made  no  more  trips  to  New  York. 

Seeing  most  of  the  fellows  talking  to  parents,  sis- 
ters or  sweethearts  gave  Hal  a  touch  of  homesick- 
ness, but  it  was  not  for  long,  as  presently  the  whole 
team  was  gathered  into  a  half  dozen  waiting  automo- 
biles and  driven  through  the  streets  and  out  to  the 
Jefferson  Club  House,  which  was  within  the  grounds 
occupied  by  the  Stadium.  Here  the  boys  could  bathe 
and  limber  up  during  the  morning  hours  for  the 
game,  which  was  to  begin  at  two  o'clock. 

On  the  way  to  the  club  the  automobiles  made  a 
detour  of  the  streets,  including  a  trip  past  the  college 
buildings  and  the  fellows  had  an  opportunity  to  get 
an  idea  of  the  extent  and  grandeur  of  this  wonderful 
western  college.  There  were  quite  as  many  build- 
ings as  at  Lowell,  and  they  were  much  finer  in  many 
respects,  but  the  newness  did  not  make  you  think  of 
classic  halls  and  college  traditions  as  did  the  old  ivy- 
clad  buildings  at  Lowell.  In  years  to  come  this 
might  possibly  be  said  of  Jefferson,  but  it  takes  time 
to  build  up  a  college  and  only  age  can  bring  to  it 
the  loved  traditions  such  as  were  associated  with 
Lowell,  and  the  boys  were  glad  that  they  were  en- 
rolled as  students  in  the  older  and  more  famous  uni- 
versity of  the  East. 

Jefferson  College  had  been  founded  but  twenty 
years  before.  A  very  rich  man  had  endowed  it  with 
millions  and  added  more  millions  every  year.  The 

194 


BEFORE    THE    BATTLE 

best  teachers  that  money  could  secure  were  obtained 
and  the  college  had  done  remarkable  things  for  the 
boys  who  entered  it,  but  no  amount  of  money  they 
could  spend  could  give  that  which  Lowell  had  spent 
more  than  a  hundred  years  to  acquire — recognition 
as  the  greatest  seat  of  learning  in  the  country.  But 
the  western  college  was  proud  of  the  remarkable 
progress  she  had  made  in  so  short  a  time  and  she 
was  reaching  out  in  every  way,  hoping  that  some  day 
she  would  overtake  and  pass  her  great  rival. 

Naturally  athletics  was  selected  as  one  of  the 
chief  fields  of  effort.  Her  managers  knew  that 
athletic  supremacy  would  give  the  college  the  great- 
est prestige.  Championships  in  the  different  branches 
of  sport  would  attract  students,  and  with  a  full  ros- 
ter of  students,  year  after  year,  it  was  thought  to  be 
only  a  question  of  time  when  all  the  rest  would  come 
to  her. 

So  they  had  built  a  magnificent  athletic  field  cost- 
ing over  a  million  dollars,  the  finest  equipment  in  the 
country.  There  were  enough  seats  to  accommodate 
50,000  people,  and  every  seat  was  taken  at  the  big 
games  which  took  place  there,  for  the  people  of  this 
Western  city  were  proud  of  their  college,  as  they  had 
a  right  to  be,  and  they  made  up  attendance  what  Jef- 
ferson lacked  in  alumni,  and  they  "  rooted "  just 
as  hard  for  their  college  as  they  would  have  had 
they  graduated  from  the  beautiful  though  as  yet 
not  classic  halls. 

The  rivalry  between  the  two  schools  was  therefore 
keen,  even  though  one  was,  in  baseball  at  least,  the 

195 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

defender  and  the  other  the  aggressor.  Lowell  came 
to  Jefferson  as  the  recognized  champion  in  both  base- 
ball and  football  this  year  and  of  two  teams  evenly 
matched,  Lowell  would  have  the  slight  advantage 
which  champions  always  have  and  her  games  were 
usually  conducted  with  this  advantage  in  mind. 

Jefferson  on  the  other  hand  had  still  to  win  the 
championship  and  was  fighting  hard  for  a  reputa- 
tion. She  was  inclined  to  conduct  her  games  des- 
perately, to  try  by  the  force  of  brawn  to  overthrow 
the  champions. 

For  this  reason  the  annual  struggle  over  the  Base- 
ball Championship  stirred  up  a  lot  of  excitement  and 
this  excitement  was  felt  throughout  the  city. 

On  the  day  of  the  great  game,  business  houses 
closed  early  and  everyone  talked  baseball.  Every- 
body that  could  get  in  went  to  the  game.  Many 
were  always  turned  away,  for  even  the  vast  amphi- 
theater seating  fifty  thousand  was  not  big  enough. 
After  all  the  seats  had  been  filled  and  ten  thousand 
others  were  let  on  the  field  to  sit  on  the  grass  or  stand 
for  two  hours  through  the  contest,  the  gates  would 
be  locked  and  no  more  could  get  in. 

Long  before  ten  o'clock  the  streets  surrounding 
the  field  were  crowded  with  people  standing  in  line 
hoping  to  get  one  of  the  choice  seats,  many  of  which 
were  not  reserved.  At  eleven  o'clock  the  gates  were 
thrown  open  and  for  more  than  an  hour  the  people 
poured  into  the  grounds  in  a  steady  stream.  By 
12.30  the  stands  were  full  and  ten  thousand  or  more 
had  been  let  out  on  the  field  below  the  stands  to  sit 

196 


BEFORE    THE    BATTLE 

in  cramped  positions  on  the  ground  or  stand  with  ach- 
ing legs  through  the  great  game.  If  anyone  in  that 
crowd  got  tired  standing,  he  didn't  show  it. 

At  one  o'clock  the  two  teams  emerged  from  the 
club  house  to  make  the  annual  march  across  the 
field  to  the  benches  reserved  for  players.  They  were 
preceded  by  a  band  of  sixty  pieces.  Jefferson  Col- 
lege wore  white  uniforms  and  maroon  stockings  and 
sweaters,  Lowell  wore  gray  uniforms  and  green 
stockings  and  sweaters,  for  the  home  players  always 
wear  white.  As  they  came  marching  across  the  field, 
both  teams  abreast  in  one  single  line,  the  crowd  in 
the  stands  arose  and  began  to  cheer. 

Hal  and  Hans  looked  ahead  of  them  at  the  thou- 
sands who  had  been  crowded  out  onto  the  field. 
Neither  of  them  had  ever  before  seen  such  a  crowd 
to  say  nothing  of  playing  ball  before  so  many  people. 
In  two  thirds  of  the  stand,  from  the  extreme  left  way 
over  almost  to  the  visitors'  bench,  nothing  could  be 
seen  but  a  mass  of  white  and  maroon.  Back  of  third 
base  from  where  they  approached,  the  maroon  gave 
place  to  green.  As  they  came  nearer  they  could  see 
the  white  places  represented  white  shirt  sleeves  or 
ladies'  dresses  or  straw  hats.  The  maroon  they  saw 
was  the  color  of  Jefferson  in  the  form  of  thousands 
of  flags,  banners,  and  handkerchiefs,  while  the  green 
on  the  left  was  caused  by  the  green  of  their  own 
university  proudly  worn  by  more  than  ten  thousand 
Lowell  men.  On  the  field  the  crowd  was  mixed, 
maroon  and  green  and  white,  for  here  there  were 
no  reserved  spaces.  Each  had  to  shift  for  himself 

197 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

and  in  the  effort  to  find  the  best  place  to  see  the  game 
and  have  the  most  possible  fun,  maroon  mixed  freely 
with  green  even  before  the  game  began. 

Down  in  front  of  the  Jefferson  players'  bench  sat 
the  Jefferson  Singing  Club  which  led  the  singing  and 
yelling  for  the  Western  school,  while  in  front  of  the 
visiting  players'  bench  near  third  base  could  be  seen 
the  Lowell  Organized  Noise  Club. 

As  they  approached  the  home  plate,  the  Jefferson 
team  turned  to  the  left  and  the  Lowell  team  to  the 
right  and  after  the  teams  had  reached  their  respective 
benches  the  Jefferson  Singing  Club  arose  and  placing 
their  megaphones  to  their  lips  began  singing 

"  FAIR  LOWELL." 

Gradually  the  volume  increased  as  the  first  base 
stands  took  it  up,  and  as  the  Lowell  students  and 
adherents  recognized  the  first  notes  of  their  dear  old 
College  Song,  they  quickly  joined  in  and  sixty  thou- 
sand voices  were  singing  in  one  chorus.  As  soon  as 
the  song  was  finished  the  singing  coaches  started  the 
Lowell  yell ;  for  several  minutes  the  familiar 

Well!     Well!     Well! 

Yell!     Yell!     Yell! 

Spell!     Spell!     Spell! 

I^_0— W— E— L— L 

Oh!     Well!     Oh!     Well! 

Go  Tell!     Go  Tell! 

Everybody  we're  from  LOWELL 

echoed  and  reechoed  over  the  field. 

198 


BEFORE    THE    BATTLE 

Then,  just  as  the  last  echoes  were  thrown  back 
from  the  distance,  the  Lowell  boys,  not  to  be  outdone 
by  the  delicate  compliment  of  their  rivals  of  their 
own  accord  also,  struck  up  the  Jefferson  song, 

ALMA  MATER. 

More  quickly  than  before  it  was  taken  up  by  the 
vast  audience,  because  they  were  now  on  the  alert, 
the  band  joined  in  and  for  five  minutes  more  the  re- 
sounding notes  of  the  Western  song  were  thrown 
upon  the  air  from  sixty  thousand  throats  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  familiar  Jefferson  yell,  which  made  the 
biggest  noise  of  all  because  more  of  the  crowd  were 
familiar  with  it. 

J—E— EFF 

J— E— EFF 

J— E— EFFERSON 

JEFFERSON  JEFFERSON 

RAH  ROW  RAY  RI  REE  RAW  RUN 

That's  the  music  for  JEFFERSON. 

Then  for  the  forty  minutes  of  practice  allowed 
the  team,  the  Jefferson  crowd,  the  band  and  Lowell's 
representatives  in  turn  sang  their  best  songs,  and 
gave  their  yells,  all  but  the  band,  of  course,  which  in 
this  instance  made  less  noise  and  also  less  music  than 
any  one  of  the  three,  if  you  can  ever  call  noise  music. 

Jefferson  would  start  her  baseball  song  going  to 
the  tune  of  "  Maryland,  My  Maryland." 

199 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Thy  sons  are  battling  for  thy  name 

Jefferson,  dear  Jefferson 
They  go  to  die  or  win  this  game 

Jefferson,  dear  Jefferson 
Give  them  your  cheers  in  loud  acclaim 
Help  them  to-day  withstand  the  strain 
And  they'll  add  glory  to  your  fame 

Jefferson,  dear  Jefferson. 

The  Champions  are  our  foes  they  say 

Jefferson,  dear  Jefferson 
For  twenty  years  they've  blocked  our  way 

Jefferson,  dear  Jefferson 
We  have  a  team  to  cause  dismay 
To  any  nine  that  tries  to  play 
Baseball  with  this  big  school  to-day 

Jefferson,  dear  Jefferson. 

WeVe  got  the  lads  who  hit  the  ball 

Jefferson,  dear  Jefferson 
Where  Lowell  boys  are  not  at  all 

Jefferson,  dear  Jefferson 
We'll  make  those  Champions  look  small 
We'll  hit  them  over  the  outer  wall 
And  raise  that  rag  on  Chapel  Hall 

Jefferson,  dear  Jefferson. 

And  just  as  soon  as  they  had  finished,  the  Lowell 
contingent  would  cut  loose  with  their  version  of  the 
"  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic." 

200 


BEFORE    THE    BATTLE 

The  Lowell  team  is  on  the  job 

Her  nine  is  fit  and  strong 
She  has  got  the  boys  who  hit  the  pill 

And  they've  been  champions  long 
She's  better  this  year  than  ever  before 

She's  never  yet  been  wrong, 
So  let  the  game  go  on. 

Chorus 

Here's  three  cheers  for  good  old  Lowell, 
Here's  three  cheers  for  good  old  Lowell, 
Here's  three  cheers  for  good  old  Lowell, 
So  let  the  game  go  on. 

We've  seen  them  come  and  seen  them  go, 

For  twenty  years  or  more; 
They  never  yet  have  beat  us, 

When  they  came -to  add  the  score. 
They  have  tried  to  steal  our  signals 

They  have  worked  till  they  were  sore, 
So  let  the  game  go  on. 
Chorus 

For  Lowell's  got  the  pitchers, 

And  we've  got  a  back  stop  true 
The  infield  is  a  bunch  of  stars 

The  outfield's  nifty  too, 
They're  all  .300  hitters, 

And  you'll  meet  your  Waterloo, 
So  let  the  game  go  on. 
Chorus 
201 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Presently  the  chosen  umpires,  Sel.  O.  Lafflin  of 
American  College  and  Robert  M.  S.  Lee,  of  National 
University,  came  onto  the  field.  They  consulted 
with  Hughie  and  Church,  agreed  upon  the  ground 


\ '    /////A 
iatf/     A///  //' 


rules,  and  presently  Lafflin,  who  was  to  umpire  be- 
hind the  bat,  stepped  to  the  plate  and  then  turning 
to  the  stands  said: 

"Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The  batt'ries  for  to- 
day's game  are — For  Lowell,  Black,  pitcher  and 
Gibbs,  catcher.  For  Jefferson — Mellen,  pitcher  and 
Brest,  catcher;  Black  and  Gibbs  for  Lowell;  Mellen 
and  Brest  for  Jefferson.  Play  ball." 

Quickly  the  Jefferson  players  arose  from  the  bench 
and  trotted  out  onto  the  field.  The  Lowell  boys  on 

202 


BEFORE    THE    BATTLE 

their  bench  stirred  nervously,  eager  to  get  into  the 
fray.  Everson  carefully  selected  his  favorite  bat 
from  the  row  of  them  which  was  on  the  ground  be- 
fore the  bench  and  stepped  to  the  plate. 

There  wasn't  a  sound  to  be  heard  on  the  grounds 
or  in  the  stands.  Everywhere  was  silence.  Mellen 
stood  there  in  the  pitcher's  box,  the  new  white  ball 
in  his  right  hand,  eying  Everson  with  intense  scru- 
tiny, trying  to  solve  what  his  greatest  batting  weak- 
ness might  be.  Everson  looked  back  at  Mellen, 
waiting,  perhaps  a  little  nervous  but  with  a  look  of 
determination  on  his  face.  He  stood  at  the  rubber, 
his  feet  slightly  apart,  his  bat  firmly  grasped,  his 
head  to  one  side  as  if  listening,  but  his  eye  on  the 
white  round  thing  in  Mellen's  hand,  and  he  never 
took  his  eye  off  that  ball.  The  game  was  about  to 
begin.  The  first  ball  pitched  might  decide  the  game. 
His  turn  at  bat  if  successful  might  win  it,  his  failure 
to  do  just  what  Hughie  had  instructed  him  to  do 
might  lose  the  game.  Mellen  began  to  wind  up. 
He  pulled  back  his  right  arm,  twisted  himself,  look- 
ing back  of  him;  he  turned  back  again  facing  the 
batter;  he  brought  forward  that  strong  right  arm  of 
his,  the  ball  started  toward  the  plate,  a  white  streak. 
The  game  had  begun. 


203 


CHAPTER    XX 

THE    FIRST   GAME 
LOWELL  JEFFERSON 

Everson,  2b  Laird,  3b 

Larke,  If  Beach,  cf 

Talkington,  cf  Church,  ib 

Robb,  rf  Hollins,  ss 

Hagner,  ss  La  Joy,  2b 

Case,   ib  Warcford,  If 

Delvin,  3b  Twitchell,  rf 

Gibbs,  c  Brest,  c 

Black,  p  Mellen,  p 

"  Ball  one,"  called  the  umpire  as  the  first  ball  re- 
leased by  Mellen  sank  into  Roger's  big  mitt,  and 
the  crowd  settled  itself  temporarily  to  watch  the  big 
battle.  Mellen  had  sent  up  a  wide  one  just  for  a 
feeler  and  Johnny  let  it  go  by.  The  second  ball  cut 
the  plate  in  the  middle,  but  Johnny  never  made  a 
move. 

"  Strike  one,"  said  the  umpire. 

Everson  struck  at  the  next  one  only  to  foul  it  off 
over  the  stand  and  it  was  two  strikes  and  one  ball. 
Mellen  quickly  sent  up  a  good  one  guessing  that 

204 


THE    FIRST    GAME 

Johnny  would  be  looking  for  a  ball,  but  Everson 
saw  it  was  going  to  be  good  and  took  a  hard  swing 
at  it  and  met  it  squarely,  knocking  a  very  fast 
grounder  over  second  base  which  looked  good,  but 
La  Joy  of  Jefferson  hurried  over,  made  a  very  grace- 
ful reach  with  his  right  hand,  and  turning,  threw, 
without  looking,  straight  to  Church,  and  Johnny  was 
out  by  a  foot.  One  out.  The  crowd  sat  up,  for  it 
was  a  hard  ball  to  field,  although  Larry  made  it  look 
easy. 

Larke  was  the  second  man  up.  He  fouled  off 
the  first  two  balls  offered  to  him,  let  one  pass  for  a 
"  ball,"  and  as  the  next  one  seemed  to  be  coming 
where  he  liked  it,  swung  hard  at  it  and  missed. 

"  Out,"  said  the  umpire  and  Talkington  trotted 
up  to  the  plate. 

He  hit  the  first  ball  pitched  far  out  to  right  field 
but  Mellen  had  motioned  the  fielders  to  play  back  and 
the  ball  went  straight  into  Twitchell's  hands  for  the 
third  out. 

The  sides  now  changed  places  amid  the  cheers  of 
the  crowd,  for  the  game  promised  to  be  particularly 
interesting. 

Laird,  the  first  man  up,  after  missing  one,  hit  a 
pop  foul  over  by  the  Jefferson  bench  which  Delvin 
caught  after  a  quick  run. 

Beach  drove  a  hot  grounder  to  Delvin,  who  made 
a  fine  stop  and  throw  to  Case  and  there  were  two  out. 

Captain  Church  of  Jefferson  was  next  up.  Miner 
sent  one  of  his  fast  inshoots  to  cut  the  inside  corner 
of  the  plate,  but  it  was  a  little  wide  and  as  Church 

205 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

couldn't  get  out  of  the  way,  the  ball  grazed  his  shirt 
and  Church  got  his  base. 

Hollins  was  next  at  bat,  but  Gibbie  got  the  idea 
that  Church  would  try  to  steal  second  right  away,  so 
he  motioned  Miner  to  send  up  a  fast  wide  one. 
Church  tried  it  but  was  caught  a  dozen  feet  off  the 
bag  by  Gibbie's  perfect  throw  to  Everson. 

In  the  second  inning  Robb  was  first  up.  He 
struck  hard  at  the  first  ball  pitched,  and  missed. 
Then  he  bunted  the  next  ball,  but  it  rolled  straight 
to  Mellen  and  he  was  an  easy  out,  Mellen  to  Church. 

Then  Hagner  came  up  for  his  first  turn  at  bat. 
The  Lowell  crowd  began  a  great  noise  of  cheering, 
for  they  had  a  feeling  that  something  would  happen 
now.  They  had  long  been  in  the  habit  of  expecting 
action  in  the  game  when  Hans  came  to  bat.  But 
Hans  showed  no  signs  of  excitement  as  he  walked  to 
the  plate.  He  stood  there  in  his  loose,  awkward 
way,  studying  Mellen,  and  Mellen  was  studying  him. 
Perhaps  Mellen  had  better  thoughts  than  Hans,  for 
he  served  up  a  ball  that  looked  good  to  Hans  and 
he  struck  at  it  hard  and  missed.  The  second  one 
looked  just  as  good  and  he  missed  that  one  too. 
When  Mellen  delivered  the  next  one,  Hans  thought 
he  would  look  it  over  carefully  and  if  it  looked  like 
the  other  two  he  would  let  it  go  by.  It  did  look 
like  the  others,  coming  straight  for  the  plate,  and 
so  he  waited  for  it  to  curve,  but  it  came  straight  over 
the  plate  and  Hans  didn't  move,  but  the  umpire  said, 
"  Three  strikes.  Batter  up,"  and  Hans  had  struck 
out. 

206 


THE    FIRST   GAME 

Hal  now  came  up.  There  were  two  out  and  he 
wanted  a  hit.  The  second  ball  looked  good,  so  he 
hit  it  for  a  grounder  to  the  right  of  Laird  and  raced 
to  first,  but  Laird  made  a  stab,  got  the  ball,  and  with- 
out setting  himself,  made  a  very  quick  but  low  throw 
to  Church.  The  Jefferson  Captain,  however,  made 
a  beautiful  pickup  and  Hal  was  out. 


Now  it  was  the  second  turn  for  Jefferson  at  bat. 

Hollins  without  waiting  drove  a  hot  grounder 
right  over  first  base  that  looked  like  a  hit,  for  Hal 
was  playing  about  twenty  feet  off.  Somehow  or 
other,  however,  Hal  got  over  near  it,  threw  himself 
the  last  six  feet  of  the  way,  stopped  the  ball  while 
falling  and  then,  as  he  lay  on  the  ground,  tossed  to 
Miner,  who  had  covered  first,  for  a  put  out.  The 

207 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

rest  of  the  Lowell  team  looked  pleased,  for  he  had 
saved  a  hit  and  the  crowd  was  excited.  The  Jeffer- 
son boys  couldn't  figure  how  they  could  get  hits  when 
such  fielding  was  possible. 

At  any  rate  they  all  thought  this  but  Larry.  He 
walked  up  to  the  plate  and  stood  there  swinging  his 
bat  carelessly.  Wherever  Miner  pitched  a  ball, 
Larry  would  reach  up  or  down  with  his  bat  and  touch 
the  ball  somehow.  He  fouled  off  one  after  the  other 
until  he  had  lost  seven  balls  over  the  stand  behind 
him  and  then  he  hit  the  eighth  one  fair  and  square 
for  a  long  liner  to  center  which  ought  to  have  been 
good  for  a  double,  only  Talkington  raced  over  and 
by  extremely  fast  fielding  held  it  to  a  single. 

The  seven  fouls  and  the  hit  by  Larry  had  made 
hard  work  for  Miner  and  so  when  Warcford  came 
up  for  his  first  time  at  bat  he  hit  a  Texas  leaguer  to 
short  left  which  fell  safe  and  he  took  first  while  Larry 
reached  second. 

It  looked  as  though  Jefferson  would  score  surely, 
and  especially  with  Twitchell  at  the  bat  and  runners 
like  Larry  and  Warcford  on  the  bases.  It  looked 
even  more  dangerous  when  Twitchell  hit  the  first  ball 
Miner  pitched  for  a  very  fast  grounder  right  over 
second,  but  Everson  raced  over,  made  an  almost  im- 
possible stop,  tossed  the  ball  to  Hans  on  second  who 
relayed  it  to  Case  at  first  completing  a  fast  double 
play  and  letting  Miner  out  of  a  dangerous  hole. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  the  third  inning.  So  far 
Jefferson  had  the  better  of  it,  two  hits,  while  Lowell 
hadn't  had  a  man  on  base. 

208, 


THE    FIRST   GAME 

Arthur  came  to  bat  and  struck  out.  So  did  Gibbie 
and  when  Black  came  up  Mellen  made  it  a  strike  out 
for  the  side,  for  he  got  Miner,  too. 

Lowell  took  the  field  for  the  second  half  of  the 
third  and  Miner  proceeded  to  repeat  Mellen's  stunt. 

Brest  was  the  first  up  and  Black  undertook  to  fool 
Roger,  who,  however,  while  pretending  that  he  was 
going  to  strike  by  running  out  to  meet  the  ball,  com- 
pletely fooled  Black,  and  so  Roger  got  his  base. 
Big  Mellen,  the  pitcher,  tried  to  bunt,  but  Hal  who 
was  expecting  this  had  started  for  the  plate  on  the 
run  the  moment  Black  started  to  pitch.  The  bunt 
started  for  the  first-base  line  and  Roger  started  for 
second,  but  before  the  ball  had  rolled  three  feet  Hal 
had  it.  He  tagged  Mellen  out  and  whirling  quickly 
threw  to  Everson  who  almost  missed  because  it  was 
done  so  swiftly.  However,  he  caught  the  ball  and 
tagged  out  Brest  as  he  started  to  slide.  The  play 
saved  a  run,  for  Laird,  the  next  man,  drove  a  single 
to  left  and  Brest  could  easily  have  scored  from  second 
but  for  the  wonderful  double  play  started  by  Hal. 
Of  course  Laird  got  to  first,  but  the  players  all  relaxed 
a  little  after  the  exciting  play  and  Laird  walked  a 
few  feet  off  the  base,  when  Gibbie  caught  him  napping 
by  a  quick  throw  to  Case,  and  there  were  three  out. 

Jefferson  had  come  a  little  closer  to  scoring  in  the 
third.  Lowell  was  fielding  all  right  but  they  had  not 
gotten  a  hit. 

Everson  came  up  first  in  the  fourth,  and  you  could 
see  by  his  expression  that  he  meant  to  change  things. 
He  got  a  near  hit.  But  for  Hollins  it  would  have 

209 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

been  a  single,  but  Hollins  robbed  him  by  a  great  stop 
on  his  left  side  and  threw  to  Church,  and  Johnny 
was  out.  Larke  also  got  a  near  hit,  a  two-bagger 
had  not  that  big  Twitchell  turned  it  into  an  out  after 
a  long  chase.  Then  Talkington  hit  a  dandy  liner 
about  five  feet  over  La  Joy's  head,  apparently,  but 
Larry  leaped  up  and  caught  it  and  Lowell  again  went 
to  the  field  without  a  hit. 

In  their  half,  Jefferson  broke  the  ice.  Little 
Tommy  Beach  opened  the  inning  with  his  regular 
two-base  hit  past  third,  the  kind  no  fielder  can  get. 
Captain  Church  didn't  wait  for  more  than  one  ball 
to  be  pitched.  He  hit  the  first  one  hard — a  bounder 
to  Hans,  who  threw  to  Delvin,  and  Beach  was  out. 
With  Church  on  first  and  Hollins  to  help  him  they 
worked  the  hit  and  run,  Church  getting  to  third  and 
Hollins  to  first.  One  out  and  men  on  first  and  third. 

A  run  was  almost  certain,  especially  with  Larry  up. 
He  made  good  with  a  long  fly  to  Talkington,  who 
made  a  great  catch  and  a  fine  throw  to  the  plate,  but 
a  perfect  slide  by  Church  made  it  impossible  for 
Gibbie  to  tag  him,  and  the  score  was  i  to  o  and  two 
out,  with  Hollins  on  second  and  Warcford  at  bat. 
Sam  drove  a  long  liner  to  left  center,  and  Larke  start- 
ing with  the  crack  of  the  bat  got  it  after  a  hard  run 
and  the  inning  was  over. 

In  the  fifth  inning  Lowell  didn't  get  a  hit,  but  did 
get  two  on  base.  Robb  first  hit  a  grounder  to 
Church  but  was  out,  Church  unassisted.  Hans,  tak- 
ing time  to  study  Mellen's  curves,  walked.  Hal  hit 
a  grounder  to  Hollins,  who  fumbled  and  both  runners 

210 


THE    FIRST    GAME 

were  safe.  Lowell  now  had  men  on  bases  for  the  first 
time  and  were  where  Jefferson  was  in  the  fourth  in- 
ning, but  Delvin  hit  a  fly  to  Beach  and  Gibbie  struck 
out,  so  Lowell  did  no  better  than  Jefferson  in  their 
first  effort  with  men  on  the  bases. 

In  the  Jefferson  half,  Twitchell  bunted,  and  Del- 
vin, just  to  even  up  things,  fumbled  the  ball.     Brest 


bunted  toward  first,  but  Hal  again  fielded  perfectly 
and  throwing  to  Hagner,  forced  Twitchell.  Then 
Mellen  singled  to  center  and  Talkmgton's  throwing 
arm  came  into  play,  for  he  caught  Roger  trying  to 
get  to  third  by  a  fine  throw  to  Delvin. .  Laird  rolled 
an  easy  one  to  Hagner  and  was  out  at  first. 

In  the  sixth,  Hughie  told  the  boys  they  would 
211 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

have  to  show  something  or  their  chances  would 
dwindle.  He  told  Black  to  get  on  if  possible  but 
the  best  Black  could  do  was  to  hit  an  easy  roller  to 
Mellen,  who  threw  him  out  at  first. 

"All  right,"  said  Hughie,  "  we  don't  expect 
pitchers  to  tire  themselves  out  running."  Then  he 
signaled  Everson  to  try  to  get  a  base  on  balls. 

Johnny  let  the  first  one  go  by.  "  Strike  one,"  an- 
nounced the  umpire.  "  Ball  one,"  he  said  as  the 
next  one  came  over.  The  third  ball  looked  good, 
but  Johnny  had  been  told  to  wait  it  out  and  the  um- 
pire announced  "  Strike  two."  The  next  one  sent  up* 
by  Mellen  was  intended  to  fool  Johnny.  It  was  all 
but  over  the  plate  but  Johnny  didn't  move.  "  Ball 
two,"  said  Lafflin.  The  fifth  one  was  just  like  the 
last  one,  and  the  umpire  shouted  "  Ball  three  "  and 
the  Lowell  rooters  began  to  hope.  It  was  now  three 
balls  and  two  strikes.  The  next  ball  would  be  the 
important  one.  On  it  came,  almost  waist  high.  It 
looked  like  a  strike,  sure,  and  Johnny  was  about  to 
hit  at  it  when  suddenly  it  began  to  drop  downward 
and  before  it  had  hit  the  ground  in  front  of  the 
plate  (which  it  did  do)  Johnny  was  off  to  first  for 
he  knew  it  was  a  ball. 

Captain  Larke  walked  up  to  the  plate  with  a  con- 
fidant air. 

"  Now's  the  time,"  shouted  Hughie  from  the 
coaching  line.  "  You  can  do  it,  Fred,"  he  continued. 
"  Make  it  a  two-bagger  while  you're  at  it  and  we'll 
only  need  one  more." 

Fred  nodded  in  reply  and  then  as  the  ball  sped 
212 


THE   FIRST   GAME 

toward  him  he  swung  hard  for  a  two-bagger  to  left 
center  that  brought  Johnny  home  with  the  tying  run. 
Talkington  had  the  fever  by  this  time.  He  came  to 
bat  and  let  two  go  by,  but  the  third  he  hit  for  a 
mighty  drive  to  center. 

With  the  crack  of  the  bat  Little  Tommy  Beach 
started  for  the  fence,  running  as  fast  as  he  could  and 
never  once  looking  back  at  the  ball.  When  he  got 
to  the  fence  he  turned  quickly,  raised  his  hands  about 
as  high  as  his  head  and  caught  the  ball  as  easily  as 
though  he  had  been  standing  there  watching  it  all  the 
time.  He  himself  couldn't  tell  how  he  knew  just 
where  that  ball  would  drop,  but  everybody  knew  he 
had  robbed  Talkington  of  a  home  run,  and  Larke 
had  to  hustle  back  to  second  for  he  had  been  so 
sure  that  it  wouldn't  be  caught  that  he  hadn't 
waited.  That  catch  by  Beach  was  enough  to  stop  any 
one  from  trying  to  knock  the  ball  over  the  fielders' 
heads. 

Robb  must  have  thought  so,  anyhow,  for  he  hit 
one  on  the  ground  to  La  Joy,  who  made  easy  work  of 
getting  it  to  first  ahead  of  Ty.  The  score  was  tied, 
and  it  had  looked  a  moment  ago  as  though  one  run 
would  win  the  game. 

Now  it  was  Jefferson's  turn  to  go  out  in  one,  two, 
three  order.  Beach  fouled  out  to  Gibbie,  Church 
struck  out  and  the  best  Hollins  could  do  was  to  drive 
a  long  fly  to  Ty,  out  in  right  field,  of  which  he 
made  an  easy  catch. 

In  the  seventh  inning  Hans  drove  one  to  Hollins 
and  was  retired  on  an  easy  throw  to  Church.  Hal 

213 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

bunted  and  was  again  thrown  out  by  Mellen,  and 
Delvin  flew  out  to  Twitchell,  so  there  was  little 
chance  for  Hughie  to  get  excited  on  the  coaching 
lines.  For  Jefferson  it  was  almost  the  same,  La  Joy 
went  out,  Hagner  to  Case.  Warcford  hit  a  high 
one  which  Johnny  got  easily.  Twitchell's  was  an 
easy  grounder  to  the  box  and  he  was  thrown  out  at 
first. 

When  the  eighth  inning  started,  however,  there 
was  a  feeling  throughout  the  crowded  stands  as 
though  something  were  going  to  break.  One  felt  it 
in  the  air.  The  Lowell  players  were  mildly  excited. 
The  feeling  was  shared  by  Gibbie,  who  was  first  to 
bat.  Hughie  felt  it  was  then  or  never  and  said: 
"  It's  up  to  you,  Gibbie,"  and  Gibbie  stood  up  to  the 
plate  as  though  he  meant  business.  The  first  ball 
pitched  he  hit  for  a  foul.  The  next  one  was  called 
a  strike,  the  third  was  a  ball  and  the  fourth  Gibbie 
rapped  for  a  clean  single  to  right. 

Black  came  up  and  immediately  sacrificed  Gibbie 
to  second.  By  this  time  the  players  on  the  beach 
were  jumping  up  and  down,  much  excited,  picking 
out  bats.  They  had  sensed  the  break  and  they  each 
hoped  the  fun  would  last  until  it  came  their  turn  at 
bat.  But  it  was  hardly  a  real  break,  and  the  enthu- 
siasm died  down  some  when  Everson  stepped  to  the 
plate  and  knocked  a  high  foul  which  Laird  held  after 
a  wonderful  catch  close  up  to  the  stands,  but  Larke 
again  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  base  runner  and  on 
a  long  single  to  left  along  the  foul  line  brought 
Gibbie  home.  Talkington  then  tried  again  to  put 

214 


THE    FIRST   GAME 

one  over  Tommy  Beach's  head  but  Tommy  made 
another  of  those  circus  catches  and  the  side  was  out. 

Then  for  Jefferson  it  began  to  look  like  defeat,  for 
Black  tightened  up  and  struck  out  Roger  on  three 
pitched  balls  only  one  of  which  the  latter  struck  at; 
Mellen  hit  one  but  Delvin  stopped  it  nicely  and  threw 
wide  to  Case,  who  made  a  one  hand  stop,  and  Black 
got  Laird  on  three  strikes. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  ninth  Lowell  tried  hard  to 
add  another  run  and  came  near  doing  so.  Robb 
drove  a  single  far  out  to  left  center  which  Warcford 
fielded  beautifully  after  a  long  run  and  threw  to 
La  Joy  in  time  to  catch  Ty  sliding  while  trying  to 
stretch  it  into  a  two-bagger.  Hans  drove  a  single 
to  right  and  then  Hal  came  up  for  his  last  time  at 
bat.  On  the  hit  and  run  he  drove  a  grounder  be- 
tween short  and  third  which  Hollins  fielded  beau- 
tifully but  threw  poorly  to  Church,  and  Hans  con- 
tinued on  to  third  while  Hal  remained  on  first  and 
Delvin  came  to  bat.  The  hit  and  run  had  worked  so 
beautifully  that  Hughie  decided  on  a  double  steal. 
Hal  started  for  second  and  drew  the  throw,  and  Hans 
led  off  third,  but  big  Mellen  intercepted  the  throw  and 
Hans  was  caught  after  practically  the  whole  Jefferson 
team  had  chased  him  up  and  down  the  line  between 
third  and  home,  while  Hal  got  around  to  third. 

It  was  now  up  to  Delvin  to  make  a  hit  if  the  run 
was  to  count  and  he  made  a  good  try  with  a  long 
liner  to  left  center,  which  both  Beach  and  Warcford 
went  after.  Warcford  being  taller  was  just  able  to 
touch  the  ball  by  leaping  as  it  went  over  his  head. 

215 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

It  looked  good  for  a  muff,  but  Beach,  near  at  hand 
by  this  time,  made  a  quick  jump  to  the  right  as  the 
ball  was  partly  stopped  and  deflected  in  its  flight  by 
Warcford  and  turned  a  sure  error  into  an  assist  for 


Sam  and  an  out  for  himself  by  his  quick  catch  for 
the  third  out. 

Lowell  was  through  and  the  game  was  theirs  if 
they  could  hold  Jefferson  for  another  inning. 

The  Jefferson  crowd  started  their  continuous  cheers 
as  Beach  came  to  the  bat  for  the  final  half.  Black 
studied  him  carefully.  Beach's  fielding  had  been 
wonderful  and  all  of  the  Lowell  boys  were  calling 
"  get  this  first  fellow;  if  you  can  stop  him  the  game's 
ours."  Black  determined  to  make  a  supreme  effort 

216 


THE    FIRST    GAME 

to  strike  him  out.  The  first  ball  Tommy  let  go  by 
and  the  umpire  called  "  strike  one."  The  next  one 
he  struck  at  and  fouled  off.  "  Strike  two."  The 
next  two  were  balls  and  the  fifth  was  wide  of  the 
plate,  but  Tommy  struck  at  it  and  he  was  out. 
Church  came  up  and  hit  the  second  ball.  It  was  a 
fast  grounder  to  the  left  of  Everson.  He  made  one 
of  his  famous  stops  and  tossed  to  Case  for  the  second 
out. 

Hollins  came  up  and  hit  the  second  one  far  out 
over  Talkington's  head  and  it  would  have  been  a 
homer  but  for  Tris*  fast  recovery  and  fine  throw. 
Church,  coaching  now  at  third  grabbed  Eddie  as  he 
was  going  past  third  in  an  effort  to  get  home  and 
pushed  him  back  to  the  base  or  he  would  have  been 
out.  He  thought  Larry,  who  was  next  up,  would 
be  likely  to  get  a  hit — at  least  it  was  the  better  chance 
to  take. 

It  looked  as  though  the  score  might  be  tied,  and  if 
it  hadn't  been  for  the  fact  that  Warcford  and  Twit- 
chell  both  followed  La  Joy,  it  might  have  resulted 
in  a  deliberate  present  of  a  base  on  balls  to  Larry. 
Black,  indeed,  did  pitch  two  wide  ones  to  tempt 
Larry  to  strike,  but  he  didn't  bite.  The  next  one 
Larry  was  also  going  to  let  go  past,  but  as  it  came 
straight  over  he  struck  at  it  and  went  out  in  Ty's 
territory  far  over  his  head. 

It  looked  like  a  sure  home  run  also,  and  Larry  was 
on  his  way  to  first  when  the  ball  struck  foul  by  not 
more  than  two  feet,  so  he  had  to  come  back  and  Hol- 
lins returned  to  third.  Miner  sent  up  another  wide 

217 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

one,  but  Larry  reached  out  with  his  bat  and  sent  it 
out  to  left  field  along  the  foul  line  and  was  again  near 
first  when  the  ball  hit  the  ground  foul  by  not  more 
than  a  foot.  So  he  had  to  come  back  again.  By 
this  time  Black  had  decided  Larry's  eye  was  too  good 
and  undertook  to  give  him  a  base  on  balls.  He  did 
give  him  another  ball,  and  tried  to  send  up  a  fourth 
one,  but  Larry  reached  out  again,  gave  it  a  quick  tap, 
and  it  was  a  foul  fly  which  came  down  in  Hal's  mitt 
very  close  to  the  bag,  and  the  game  was  over. 

BOX  SCORE 


LOWELL 
Everson,  2b..  .  . 

R 

T 

H 

n 

PO 
•j 

A 

7 

E 

o 

JEFFERSON 
Laird,  3b 

AB 

R 

o 

H 
i 

PO 

I 

A  E 

30 

Larke,  If  

4 

0 

7 

n 

o 

Beach,  cf 

o 

o    o 

Talkington,cf.. 
Robb  rf 

4 

0 

o 

0 

I 

I 
n 

o 
o 

Church,  ib.... 

3 

i 

o 

10 

0      0 

Hagner,  ss  
Case,  If.        .    . 

4 

0 

o 

o 

2 
JO 

4 

3- 

0 

o 

La  Joy,  2b  
Warcford,  If 

3 

0 

o 

I 

I 

2 

o 

• 

2      O 
2      O 

Delvin,  3b  

o 

o 

7 

Twitchell,  rf. 

o 

o 

O      O 

Gibbs,  c  

I 

I 

5" 

o 

Brest,  c. 

o 

o 

7 

O      O 

Black,  p..  . 

2 

o 

n 

I 

\ 

o 

Mellen,  p.  ... 

o 

o 

33    2    5    27  14    i  30    i     7    27  14    2 

LOWELL o    o    o    o    o     i    o    i    o — 2 

JEFFERSON oooioooo    o — i 

Two  Base  Hits— Beach,  Larke. 

Three  Base  Hits— Hollins. 

Sacrifice  Hits— La  Joy,  Black. 

Stolen  Bases— Hollins. 

Left  on  Bases — Lowell,  7;  Jefferson,  2. 

First  Base  on  Errors — Lowell,  2;  Jefferson,  i. 

Double  Play — Everson,  Hagner,  Case — Case,  Everson. 

Struck  out  by  Mellen,  6;  by  Black,  4. 

Bases  on  Balls  off  Mellen,  2;  off  Black,  I. 

Hit  by  Pitcher,  by  Black,  i. 

It  had  been  a  hard  game  to  win  and  might  easily 
have  been  won  by  either  side. 

Almost  every  man  on  the  Lowell  team  had  saved 
the  game  by  excellent  work  at  one  stage  or  the  other, 

218 


THE   FIRST   GAME 

and  the  boys  knew  that  the  luck  of  the  game  had  as 
much  to  do  with  their  victory  as  anything.  They 
knew  now  that  they  were  up  against  one  of  the  best 
teams  of  ball  players  that  could  possibly  be  brought 
together,  and  no  one  could  say  which  was  the 
stronger  of  the  two.  If  the  luck  of  the  game  should 
desert  them  in  the  next  two,  the  result  might  easily 
be  in  favor  of  Jefferson.  The  championship  was 
really  in  danger. 

Hughie  congratulated  all  of  the  boys  on  their  ex- 
celknt  playing,  and  while  none  of  them  had  done 
very  much  with  the  bat  for  they  had  been  opposed 
by  a  wonderful  pitcher,  it  was  satisfaction  to  know 
that  Jefferson  had  just  as  hard  a  time  trying  to  hit 
Miner. 

He  was  particularly  pleased  with  the  fine  fielding 
displayed  by  the  youngsters  Hans,  Hal,  Ty,  and  Tris, 
who  had  stood  staunch  under  the  first  big  firing,  but 
what  pleased  him  more  than  anything  was  that  the 
old  stand-bys  like  Larke  and  Everson  and  Gibbie  had 
been  responsible  for  the  actual  runs  and  he  felt  pretty 
confident  of  the  final  outcome. 

Church,  of  Jefferson,  on  the  other  hand,  got  his 
encouragement  out  of  the  fact  that  his  team  had 
played  fully  as  well  as  Lowell,  and  with  a  little  luck 
would  have  won.  A  little  less  wind  when  Larry  got 
a  foul  instead  of  a  homer  in  the  ninth  would  have 
given  them  the  game,  and  he  told  the  boys  he  felt 
sure  the  luck  would  average  up,  and  that  the  cham- 
pionship would  be  won  this  time. 


219 


CHAPTER   XXI 

RETURNING    HOME 

AT  midnight  the  Lowell  special  started  on  the  re- 
turn trip,  with  another  special  train,  bearing  the 
Jefferson  team  and  her  faithful  rooters,  trailing  them. 

The  celebration  after  the  game  had  been  glorious 
but  pretty  strenuous,  and  the  boys  were  tired.  They 
all  tumbled  into  their  berths  and  went  promptly  to 
sleep. 

Early  in  the  morning,  however,  they  were  awak- 
ened by  the  noise  of  cheering,  and  looking  out  of  the 
windows  of  the  car  they  could  see  they  had  stopped  at 
a  station  crowded  with  people.  It  was  hardly  six 
o'clock,  but  the  platform  was  crowded  with  an  en- 
thusiastic mob,  giving  the  Lowell  yell  and  calling  on 
the  boys  to  get  up  and  show  themselves.  The  train 
pulled  out  before  they  could  do  this,  but  they  got  up 
and  dressed  and  had  an  early  breakfast. 

Then  they  prepared  themselves  for  the  all-day 
ride  to  the  East.  Presently  they  stopped  again.  A 
still  larger  crowd  was  at  the  station  with  the  familiar 
green  flags  and  banners.  This  time  the  boys  went 
out  on  the  platform  and  joined  the  chorus  of  Lowell 
songs  and  yells. 

So  it  went  all  day.  Wherever  they  stopped  there 
220 


RETURNING    HOME 

were  cheering  crowds  and  songs  and  yells.  Every 
once  in  a  while  they  called  on  Hughie  for  a  speech 
and  he  would  do  his  best  in  reply.  It  was  almost 
the  kind  of  a  ride  which  the  President  makes  on  his 
occasional  swings  around  the  circle.  Certain  it  is 
that  no  President  ever  got  a  more  enthusiastic  recep- 
tion than  did  the  Lowell  boys  that  day. 


TV. 


During  the  course  of  the  morning  when  there  was 
about  an  hour's  run  to  the  next  stop,  Johnny  Ever- 
son  and  Arthur  Delvin  found  Ty  Robb  in  the  far 
corner  writing  busily. 

"Writing  to  the  folks ?"  asked  Johnny. 

"  Don't  bother  me,"  said  Ty,  "  I  have  an  inspira- 
tion." So  they  left  him  alone,  but  presently  he  came 
up  to  where  Hughie,  Larke,  and  Everson  were  sitting 

221 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

and  talking  things  over,  and  said:  "I've  made  a 
brief  report  of  the  game  for  the  boys  at  home.  I 
saw  a  peach  back  there  at  the  last  station,  and  when- 
ever I  see  peaches  I  think  of  'Gene  Field's  little 
poem."  Then  he  started  to  sing. 

A  baseball  team  out  at  Jefferson  grew, 
A  pretty  good  team  it  was  they  drew, 
Managed  by  Church  and  captained,  too, 
It  grew.     It  grew. 

Listen  to  this  tale  of  woe. 

They  challenged  the  team  of  the  Emerald  hue 
That  had  beaten  the  Eastern  teams  very  blue; 
They  were  captained  by  Larke  and  managed  by 

Hugh, 

Too  true.     Too  true. 
Listen  to  the  tale  of  woe. 

The  Lowell  boys  came  on  the  fast  choo  choo, 
They  began  to  play  the  game  at  two  to  2.02 
And  soon  the  trouble  began  to  brew, 
Mon  Dieu!     Mon  Dieu! 
Listen  to  their  tale  of  woe. 

Then  Tommy  came  along  with  his  mind  in  a  stew 
And  placed  to  his  credit  a  bagger-two 
While  Larry  brought  Church  home  and  Black  be- 
gan to  rue, 

But  they  were  through. 
Listen  to  their  wail  of  woe. 

222 


RETURNING   HOME 

Johnny  got  his  base  and  Larke  got  two, 
This  was  in  the  sixth  and  brought  Johnny  through, 
The  eighth  saw  Cap.  make  another  accrue, 
Score  two.     Score  two. 
Listen  to  our  lack  of  woe. 

The  rest  of  the  innings  showed  us  nothing  new, 
Each  side  to  bat  and  each  side  withdrew, 
The  batters  the  pitchers  couldn't  subdue, 
Hip  Huroo.     Hip  Huroo. 
Listen  to  that  tale  of  woe. 

What  of  the  team  that  Jefferson  grew? 
Licked  by  Lowell  of  Emerald  hue, 
Another  game  and  its  mission  is  through. 
They  i,  We  2, 

Wait  for  the  next  tale  of  woe. 

As  Ty  sang  the  other  boys  gathered  round  him 
and  as  most  of  them  knew  the  tune  they  were  pres- 
ently crowding  close,  looking  over  his  shoulder  at 
the  words  and  joining  in.  Then  they  made  copies 
of  it  and  sent  them  by  the  porter  into  the  other  cars 
of  the  train.  Pretty  soon  everybody  on  the  train 
either  had  a  copy  or  had  learned  the  thing  by  heart 
and  whenever  they  stopped  at  a  station  they  would  all 
get  out  on  the  platforms  or  lean  out  of  the  windows 
and  introduce  the  new  song  to  the  crowds  at  the 
stations,  always  leaving  a  few  copies  behind.  By 
the  time  they  reached  Lowell,  early  in  the  evening, 
Robb's  doggerel  song  had  been  sung  from  Cleveland 

223 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

to  Lowell  and  found  its  way  the  next  day  into  most 
every  big  paper  in  the  country,  so  that  almost  every 
Lowell  man  in  the  land  knew  it  within  twenty-four 
hours  after  it  was  composed. 

Presently  the  train  pulled  into  the  station  at 
Lowell.  The  boys  looked  out  at  the  mob  that  was 
there  to  welcome  them.  Hal  and  Hans  thought  of 
the  former  return  to  Lowell  when  Hans  had  brought 
him  back.  This  was  a  different  kind  of  home  com- 
ing. There  was  no  walking  or  riding  in  carriages 
that  night.  It  was  shoulders  for  the  team,  surely, 
and  they  prepared  for  it. 

The  crowd  at  the  station  was  singing  the  Lowell 
songs  and  yelling  and  cheering,  but  presently  as  the 
team  and  the  others  on  the  train  appeared,  the  latter 
began  singing  Robb's  "  Peach  Song  "  again,  and  the 
crowd  stopped  to  listen.  They  heard  it,  they  seemed 
to  drink  it  in,  they  learned  it  all  at  once,  it  seemed, 
for  presently  they  were  all  singing  this  rather  dirge- 
like  chant  of  a  Lowell  victory. 

Hughie  tried  his  best  to  get  the  team  away  from 
the  crowd,  for  they  had  a  hard  game  ahead  of  them 
next  day,  but  he  gave  it  up  finally,  saying  only,  "  All 
right  boys,  do  as  you  please  with  us  but  don't 
hurt  us;  weVe  got  to  lick  them  again  to-morrow." 

Then  they  grabbed  Hughie,  lifted  him  upon  strong 
shoulders,  corralled  the  rest  of  the  boys  in  a  similar 
way  and  through  the  streets  of  the  old  college  town 
they  took  them,  a  happy,  joyous  procession,  the  band 
in  front  playing,  and  the  horns  blowing.  Finally 
they  were  let  go  to  their  homes  where  they  could 

224 


RETURNING    HOME 

get  another  refreshing  sleep  in  preparation  for  the 
second  and  perhaps  final  struggle  which  would  take 
place  on  the  morrow. 

The  crowd  that  welcomed  Jefferson,  which  arrived 
an  hour  later,  was  not  so  large  but  it  gave  them  a 
rousing  welcome  just  the  same.  They  knew  that  Jef- 
ferson had  fought  hard  and  bravely,  and  it  had  been 


no  easy  task  to  beat  them ;  but  Lowell  had  won,  and 
they  could  afford  to  give  the  losers  a  generous  wel- 
come. They  let  the  Jefferson  team  ride  in  carriages, 
however,  contenting  themselves  with  singing  a  few  of 
the  Jefferson  songs,  mingled  with  their  own  loved 
ones.  They  didn't  sing  Ty's  "  Peach  Song  "  but  Jef- 
ferson had  heard  it  all  along  the  route  and  they  were 
determined  to  make  Lowell  sing  an  entirely  different 
one  before  another  twenty- four  hours  had  passed. 

225 


CHAPTER   XXII 

DISTINGUISHED   FANS 

THE  day  of  the  second  of  the  big  games  broke  clear 
and  warm.  The  same  excitement  was  to  be  noticed 
around  the  old  college  town  as  on  the  day  of  the 
first  game  at  Jefferson.  Lowell,  however,  was  not 
located  in  so  large  a  city,  and  therefore  the  people 
who  had  come  to  the  game  were  more  noticeable. 
Special  trains  from  Boston,  New  York,  and  other 
points  began  pouring  their  loads  of  Lowell  and 
Jefferson  rooters  into  the  old  station  before  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  the  steady  stream  of 
arrivals  continued  until  game  time,  which  was  again 
two  o'clock.  For  the  early  arrivals  time  might  have 
hung  heavy  on  their  hands  had  they  not  found  a 
chance  to  let  off  some  of  their  steam,  by  parading 
the  streets,  and  singing  the  old  college  songs. 

A  procession  of  Lowell  "  rooters  "  would  march 
up  one  street  singing  "  Fair  Lowell,"  while  down 
another  street  would  come  the  Jefferson  crowd, 
though  smaller,  singing  their  "  Alma  Mater." 
Whenever  they  met  there  would  be  a  great  mingling 
of  college  yells,  which  didn't  sound  nearly  as  well 
as  when  they  were  separated  and  which,  to  anyone 
without  the  college  spirit  probably  sounded  as  though 

226 


DISTINGUISHED    FANS 

a  lunatic  asylum  had  been  turned  loose  upon  the 
town.  But  nobody  without  this  college  enthusiasm 
could  be  found  that  day  at  Lowell,  so  the  boys  and 
girls  paraded  up  and  down  the  streets  to  their  hearts' 
content,  and  finally  took  up  the  march  in  the  direction 
of  Lowell  field,  where  the  same  scenes  took  place 
which  had  been  seen  at  Jefferson  on  the  day  of  the 
first  big  game.  The  band  played  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  the  crowd.  Noise  clubs  led  the  yells  and  the 
songs,  the  crowd  joined  in,  and  thus  they  entertained 
themselves  until  game  time. 

Around  the  public  square,  and  more  particularly 
in  front  of  Lowell  Arms,  the  most  popular  hotel  in 
the  town,  was  assembled  a  great  crowd,  and  only 
a  championship  ball  game  itself  could  have  kept  the 
guests  of  this  inn  from  being  the  center  of  the 
universe  on  this  day,  for  the  President  was  to  arrive 
during  the  morning  and  the  hotel  was  already  filled 
with  Senators,  Representatives,  Ambassadors  and  big 
politicians,  who  are  likely  to  hover  around  the 
President  on  such  occasions,  to  let  some  of  the 
reflected  glory  shine  upon  them. 

Many  of  them  came  for  the  sole  purpose  of  seeing 
the  ball  game,  but  others,  who  are  playing  the 
political  game  all  the  time,  hoped  to  catch  the  Presi- 
dent's ear  during  his  visit. 

When  the  President  did  arrive  and  was  welcomed 
by  such  enthusiasm  as  the  townspeople,  students, 
and  visitors  could  spare  from  the  baseball  game,  he 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  anyone  who  had  anything  to 
say  on  any  subject  but  baseball  and  college  life.  He 

227 


WON    IN   THE   NINTH 

was  bound  to  be  a  boy  again  whenever  he  came  to 
Lowell  and  the  annual  games  were  his  special 
delight. 

Out  at  Lowell  field  they  had  arranged  a  special  box 
for  the  President  and  other  distinguished  guests, 
which  he  occupied  for  a  little  while,  but  when  it 
came  time  for  practice  he  said,  "  It  don't  seem  quite 
like  a  ball  game  sitting  here.  I'm  going  over  there 
and  sit  with  the  boys."  And  he  did.  They  made 
a  place  for  him  in  one  of  the  seats  in  the  first  row 
of  the  regular  grand  stand,  where  the  sun  could  shine 
on  him,  and  when  he  got  warm  he  took  off  his  hat 
and  coat  just  like  any  other  fan,  and  enjoyed  himself 
to  the  limit. 

Lowell  field  was  not  as  new  and  substantial  a  place 
as  the  Stadium  at  Jefferson,  but  the  stands  would 
hold  almost  as  many  people,  and  the  grounds,  being 
larger,  more  standing  room  was  found  on  the  field. 

By  one  o'clock  every  inch  of  space  was  occupied 
and  the  gates  were  locked.  Never  before  had  so 
many  come  to  see  a  game  at  Lowell.  This  time, 
however,  the  Lowell  folks  outnumbered  the  Jefferson 
adherents.  To-day  more  than  two  thirds  of  the 
people  waved  green  flags  and  banners  and  the  balance 
showed  the  colors  of  the  rival  school.  The  com- 
plexion of  the  crowd  was  reversed.  Some  who  had 
been  at  the  other  game  wondered  if  this  was  a  sign 
that  the  score  would  be  reserved,  too.  Jefferson 
fellows,  who  were  just  a  little  bit  superstitious  hoped 
so,  while  the  Lowell  crowd  said  they  didn't  believe 
in  superstitions  of  any  kind.  Finally  the  teams 

228 


DISTINGUISHED    FANS 

marched  onto  the  field,  the  University  Band 
preceding  them,  but  this  time  as  they  reached  the 
plate,  it  was  the  maroon  which  sat  on  the  bench  back 
of  third  base,  and  the  green  went  back  of  first. 

"  We  licked  them  when  they  had  the  advantage 
of  being  on  their  own  lot,"  said  Fred  Penny  who  was 
sitting  in  the  stand  with  Johnny  King,  "  and  I  guess 
now  we  have  them  on  our  own  lot,  we  will  make  it 
two  straight. " 

The  practice  before  the  game  gave  the  crowd  a 
chance  to  pay  their  particular  respects  to  the 
individual  members  of  the  team,  by  special  songs 
and  cheers  for  each  of  them.  The  band  played  "  Hail 
to  the  Chief  "  once  for  the  President  and  two  or 
three  times  for  Hughie.  Then  each  member  of  the 
team  was  introduced  to  the  President,  and  as  each 
member  of  the  team  came  up  the  Noise  Club 
announced : 

Here  he  is— HONUS. 

What's  the  matter  with  HONUS? 

And  then  everybody  would  sing: 

For  he's  a  jolly  good  player, 
For  he's  a  jolly  good  player, 
For  he's  a  jolly  good  player, 
Which  Jefferson  can't  deny." 

And  they  gave  a  special  yell  for  each  of  the  par- 
ticular stars  of  the  first  game.  It  was  enough  to  make 
any  player  nervous  and  anxious  and  it's  a  wonder 
it  didn't.  What  it  did  do,  however,  was  to  make 

229 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

every  one  of  the  boys  take  a  special  vow  to  play  the 
game  of  his  life  that  day. 

Again  the  two  men  in  the  blue  suits  and  blue  caps 
trotted  out  on  the  field.  Again  the  umpire,  who  was 
to  work  behind  the  bat  (this  time  it  was  M.  S. 
Lee),  consulted  with  Hughie  and  Church.  The 
gong  sounded.  The  umpire  said,  u  Play  ball."  The 
Lowell  boys  trotted  out  onto  the  field  to  their  posi- 
tions. Again  the  umpire  took  off  his  cap,  faced  the 
stands  and  said: 

"  Ladies  and  gentlemen :  The  batteries  for  to- 
day's game  are  Cam,  pitcher;  Brest,  catcher  for  Jef- 
ferson. Radams,  pitcher ;  Gibbs,  catcher  for  Lowell. 
Cam  and  Brest  for  Jefferson.  Radams  and  Gibbs  for 
Lowell — Batter  up." 

This  time  Laird  of  the  Western  school  stepped 
quietly  to  the  plate.  He  looked  at  Radams  and 
Radams  looked  at  him.  Each  was  studying  the  other, 
though  to-day  Radams  had  a  little  advantage.  He 
had  seen  Laird  at  bat  and  Black  had  gone  over 
the  other  game  carefully  with  him  so  he  knew  some- 
thing about  each  of  the  batters.  At  least  he  was 
sure  he  did  have  a  slight  advantage,  and  so  he  did 
not  hesitate  an  instant,  but  began  to  shoot  them  over. 
The  second  big  game  was  on. 


230 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

THE  SECOND  STRUGGLE 
LOWELL  JEFFERSON 

Everson,  2b  Laird,  3b 

Larke,  If  Beach,  cf 

Talkington,  cf  Church,   ib 

Robb,  rf  Hollins,  ss 

Hagner,  ss  La  Joy,  2b 

Case,  ib  Warcford,  If 

Delvin,  3b  Twitchell,  rf 

Gibbs,  c  Brest,  c 

Radams,  p  Cam,  p 

When  the  teams  lined  up  at  Lowell  for  the  second 
game,  the  batting  order  was  the  same  but  there  was 
a  somewhat  different  air  to  be  noticed  among  the 
players.  The  boys  who  hit  the  ball  were  not  satis- 
fied with  their  batting  records  in  the  first  game,  and 
they  were  determined  to  knock  somebody  out  of  the 
box.  This  time  it  was  Jefferson's  first  turn  at  bat, 
and  as  Laird  came  up  Radams  played  for  a  little 
luck  to  enable  him  to  get  a  good  start.  Thinking 
about  it  so  much  spoiled  his  control,  for  when  he 
had  pitched  six  balls  the  count  was  two  and  four  and 
Laird  was  walking  down  to  first  as  a  result. 

Beach  was  true  to  his  first  inning  record  and  got 
a  nice  single  to  right  field  and  Laird  got  to  third. 

231 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Captain  Church  came  up  with  lots  of  confidence  and 
tapped  the  ball  smartly,  but  it  was  an  infield  fly  which 
Everson  caught  near  the  pitcher's  box.  Radams  was 
having  a  hard  time  with  his  nerves,  apparently,  for 


he  gave  Hollins  four  bad  ones  in  succession  and  he 
walked  to  first  also.  This  brought  La  Joy  to  bat 
and  he  hit  a  fast  grounder  over  second,  but  Hans 
made  a  one-hand  stop  right  at  the  bag,  touched  sec- 
ond forcing  Hollins  and  threw  to  first  for  the  third 
out. 

"  Let's  do  something  in  the  first  inning  besides 
field,"  said  Hughie,  as  Everson  started  for  the  plate 
with  his  bat. 

"  Here  goes,"  said  Johnny.  Cam,  the  pitcher, 
was  sizing  up  Johnny  and  also  wishing,  as  had 

232 


THE    SECOND    STRUGGLE 

Radams  a  moment  before,  for  a  little  luck  in  getting 
the  first  man.  When  he  pitched  the  first  ball,  how- 
ever, Everson  waded  right  in  and  turned  it  into  a 
single  to  right  and  was  off  for  first  like  a  streak. 
Larke  immediately  hit  a  low  roller  to  La  Joy  who 
got  the  captain  at  first,  but  Johnny  had  reached  second 
before  Larry  had  stopped  the  ball. 

Talkington,  after  getting  two  strikes  and  three 
balls,  hit  an  easy  fly  to  Twitchell  in  right.  Cam 
was  willing  to  let  Tris  hit  it,  but  he  was  trying  to 
make  him  hit  it  in  the  air,  and  Tris  did;  but  when 
Cam  pitched  the  same  kind  of  a  ball  to  Robb,  Ty 
rapped  it  for  a  long  triple  out  over  Warcford's 
head,  scoring  Everson.  Hans  got  a  base  on  balls 
and  stole  second;  then  while  Cam  was  winding  up 
to  pitch  to  the  next  batter,  Ty  started  for  home,  but 
Roger  tagged  him  easily  this  time  as  he  was 
attempting  his  great  slide,  and  the  side  was  out. 

Warcford  was  the  next  man  up  for  Jefferson.  He 
struck  at  the  first  ball  Radams  pitched  and  it  went 
over  Delvin's  head  for  a  neat  single.  It  surely 
looked  as  though  there  would  be  some  hitting.  Twit- 
chell next  up,  struck  at  the  first  ball  and  missed 
and  Delvin  played  out  so  as  to  be  able  to  stop 
anything  that  came  like  Warcford's  hit  of  a  moment 
before,  but  Twitchell  bunted  the  next  ball  toward 
third,  so  Delvin  couldn't  get  it  in  time  to  catch  either 
runner,  and  they  were  both  safe.  Then  Brest  sacri- 
ficed and  Warcford  and  Twitchell  perched  on  third 
and  second  respectively.  Cam  struck  out,  but  Laird 
singled  to  left  scoring  Warcford,  and  Twitchell 

233 


WON    IN    THE   NINTH 

tried  to  get  home  too,  but  was  caught  at  the  plate 
by  Captain  Larke's  beautiful  throw  to  Gibbie. 

In  the  Lowell  half,  Case  was  first  up  and  the  best 
he  could  to  with  Cam's  curves  was  to  hit  one  of  them 
to  Hollins  who  fielded  it  in  time  to  get  Hal  at  first. 
Delvin  drove  a  long  fly  to  center,  but  Beach  got  it. 
Gibbie  put  new  hope  into  the  inning  by  doubling  to 
left  center,  but  Radams  struck  out. 

Beach  was  up  again  in  the  third,  and  Radams 
tempted  him  to  miss  three,  and  he  was  out  of  the  way. 
He  had  almost  as  good  a  time  with  Captain  Church, 
who  hit  the  third  one  on  a  line  into  Robb's  hands 
out  in  right.  Hollins,  however,  drove  a  single  over 
the  first  bag  which  was  fair  by  inches,  and  La  Joy 
came  up.  This  time  Radams  decided  on  a  base  on 
balls  after  getting  Hughie's  signals  from  the  bench 
and  it  went  through  all  right;  but  before  Warcford 
got  a  chance  at  a  good  one  Hollins  undertook  to 
steal  third  and  was  caught  by  a  quick  throw  from 
Gibbie  to  Arthur. 

Everson  went  out  on  a  good  stop  by  Cam  which 
he  tossed  to  Church  at  first.  Larke  tried  to  put 
one  between  Beach  and  Warcford  in  left  center,  but 
it  went  a  little  too  high  and  Beach  got  it  easily. 
Talkington  bunted  along  the  first  base  line  and  was 
safe,  but  would  have  been  out  if  Church  hadn't 
expected  it  would  roll  foul,  for  he  could  have  easily 
thrown  Tris  out  to  Cam,  who  covered  first.  The 
Lowell  boys  were  looking  for  something  good  from 
Robb,  but  the  best  he  could  do  was  to  hit  one  in  the 
air  out  Iwitchell's  way  and  it  was  an  easy  catch. 

234 


THE    SECOND    STRUGGLE 

When  Warcford  came  up  first  in  the  fourth, 
Hughie  signaled  the  outfield  to  play  way  out.  He 
motioned  a  second  time  to  Robb  and  he  went  almost 
out  to  the  fence.  Warcford  noticed  this  and  thought 
if  he  could  drop  a  short  fly  in  right  field  it  would 
drop  safe.  The  ball  came  to  him  just  right,  and 
Hal  noticing  where  Ty  was  playing  started  after  it, 
but  presently  he  saw  Ty  coming  full  speed  ahead  and 
knew  that  Ty  had  a  chance  for  it,  so  he  stopped. 
Just  as  the  ball  was  about  to  hit  the  ground  Ty  stuck 
out  both  hands  and  got  it  and  then  turned  two  somer- 
saults on  the  grass — one  of  which  he  couldn't  help. 
Twitchell  drove  a  single  between  Everson  and  Case 
which  Ty  fielded,  and  Roger  hit  the  first  ball  with  a 
mighty  swat  on  a  line  straight  to  Everson,  and 
Twitchell  was  doubled  off  first  before  he  could  even 
try  to  get  back. 

Hans  first  to  bat  in  the  Lowell  half  of  the  fourth 
picked  out  a  nice  spot  in  left  field,  and  placed  a  neat 
single  where  Warcford  couldn't  get  it.  Hal,  under 
instructions,  made  a  sacrifice  bunt  and  was  out  at 
first,  Hans  taking  second.  Arthur  got  three  balls  in 
a  row  and  it  looked  as  though  Cam  was  going  to 
walk  him,  but  the  pitcher  fooled  him  by  putting  the 
next  two  straight  over  and  then  it  was  strike  out  or 
hit  it.  Arthur  did  his  best  and  struck  out,  but  while 
he  was  doing  this  Hans  made  a  clean  steal  of  third, 
to  the  great  surprise  of  the  Jefferson  team  and  espe- 
cially Roger  Brest  the  catcher,  who  didn't  even  throw 
to  catch  Hans.  Having  in  mind  Gibbie's  double  in 
the  second  inning  Cam  gave  hini  a  base  on  balls. 

235 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Radams  then  made  a  good  effort  to  get  a  hit,  but  the 
ball  went  to  the  pitcher's  box,  so  Cam  got  credit  for  an 
assist  and  the  side  was  out. 

Cam  was  first  up  for  Jefferson  in  the  fifth.  He 
struck  at  the  first  one  that  Radams  pitched  to  him. 
The  second  ball  the  umpire  called  a  strike  and  Cam 
bunted  the  third  one  and  was  out.  The  Lowell  boys 
and  rooters  got  a  good  deal  of  amusement  out  of 
this,  but  anyone  is  liable  to  make  a  mistake  of  this 
kind.  It,  however,  gave  Lowell  the  edge  on  Jefferson 
for  that  inning.  Laird,  next  up,  drove  one  to  Hans 
which  almost  knocked  him  down.  Hans  tried  to 
throw  it  just  as  hard  to  Case,  but  threw  it  high  and 
Hal  had  to  jump  for  it,  which  he  did,  and  saved 
Hans  an  error. 

Beach  let  one  strike  be  called  on  him,  and  then  he 
banged  into  the  next  one  for  a  hit  to  left  center  that 
hit  the  fence  and  was  an  easy  triple.  In  fact,  it  would 
have  been  the  easy  homer  which  Beach  tried  to  make 
out  of  it  but  for  the  wonderful  relaying  of  the  ball 
by  Captain  Larke  and  Hans.  Hans  ran  out  into  left 
field  and  caught  the  ball  as  Larke  threw  it  to  him 
and  turned,  without  looking,  and  threw  it  straight 
to  Gibbie  at  the  plate  who  didn't  have  to  move  his 
hands  an  inch  to  make  the  catch  and  who  tagged 
Beach  not  over  six  inches  from  the  plate.  If  Hans 
had  stopped  before  making  the  throw  to  get  his 
direction,  Beach  would  have  been  safe,  but  he  couldn't 
have  made  a  more  perfect  throw  even  if  he  had 
looked.  It  was  the  greatest  play  of  the  game  so  far. 

In  the  Lowell  half  Johnny  hit  a  grounder  to 
236 


THE    SECOND    STRUGGLE 

Church  who  was  playing  back  on  the  grass  and  the 
two  had  a  foot  race  to  first,  Everson  sliding  feet 
foremost.  It  looked  to  many  as  though  Johnny  beat 
Church,  but  the  umpire  waived  him  out,  and  after 
a  few  remarks  Johnny  stuck  his  chin  in  the  air  a  little 
higher  and  walked  to  the  bench. 

Captain  Larke  came  up  determined  to  make  up 
for  what  he  thought  was  a  poor  decision,  and  placed 
a  neat  single  over  second  base,  which  rolled  to  center, 
and  stole  second  on  the  first  ball  pitched,  Brest's 
throw  being  a  little  late  and  high.  Tris  felt  like 
doing  something,  but  his  best  effort  was  a  foul  fly 
in  the  direction  of  the  bleachers  near  third  base  which 
nobody  had  a  right  to  get,  but  which  Laird  got  just 
the  same  after  a  long  run  and  a  beautiful  catch. 

Ty  Robb  now  came  up,  swinging  three  bats.  Larke 
was  on  second  and  watching  Ty  closely,  as  the  hand 
with  which  the  batter  threw  away  the  extra  bat  was 
a  signal  which  gave  the  runner  the  tip  on  what  his 
instructions  were,  but  Ty  was  carrying  three  bats,  and 
three  bats  had  never  been  included  in  the  signal  list, 
so  Larke  was  puzzled.  Just  because  he  was  puzzled, 
perhaps,  he  thought  this  signal  might  mean  steal 
third,  so  he  started  to  do  so.  Ty  saw  him  and  tapped 
the  ball  for  a  bunt  toward  third  and  beat  it  out 
while  Larke  perched  safely  on  third.  Hans  then 
came  up  and  singled  to  right,  scoring  Larke,  but  Ty 
tried  to  get  to  third  on  the  play  and  was  caught  by 
a  fine  throw  from  Twitchell  to  Laird. 

Church  started  the  ball  rolling  in  the  sixth  by  an 
easy  grounder  to  Everson  who  fumbled,  and  the 

237 


WON    IN   THE   NINTH 

Jefferson  captain  was  safe.  Hollins  bunted  along 
the  first  base  line,  but  Hal  was  on  his  job  and  fielded 
the  ball  quickly  to  Hagner,  forcing  Church.  La  Joy 
then  dropped  a  beautiful  single  to  left  and  Hollins 
had  to  stop  at  second,  making  runners  on  first  and 
second.  Warcford  drove  a  low  liner  between  first 
and  second  and  La  Joy  started  toward  second.  The 
batted  ball  hit  him  on  the  left  foot  and  rolled  into 
HaPs  hands. 

La  Joy  was  out  on  this  play,  of  course,  and  Hollins 
had  to  return  to  second.  Twitchell  now  came  up 
and  hit  the  third  ball  pitched  for  a  two  bagger  to 
right  center,  which  Robb  received  and  threw  to  the 
plate,  but  Hollins  and  Warcford  scored,  and  Twitch- 
ell  went  to  third  on  the  throw  in.  He  overslid  the  bag, 
however,  and  was  out  when  Gibbie  snapped  the  ball 
to  Delvin,  who  tagged  him  before  he  could  recover. 
Hughie  sent  Miner  out  to  warm  up. 

Case  put  up  a  foul  back  of  the  plate  and  Brest 
caught  it  near  the  screen.  This  was  close  to  the 
box  in  which  the  Vice  President  and  the  notables  were 
sitting.  "  He  has  it,"  said  some  one,  as  Roger  made 
the  catch.  The  Vice  President  turned  to  see  who  had 
spoken.  "What  kind  of  baseball  talk  is  this?  Say 
'  he's  got  it '  not  *  he  has  it.'  "  Delvin  hit  a  grounder 
which  struck  Cam  on  the  leg  and  glanced  off  in  the 
direction  of  the  first  base,  where  Church  picked  it  up 
and  touched  the  bag  for  an  out.  Gibbie  tried  to  get  a 
base  on  balls  but  was  called  out  on  strikes. 

Brest  was  the  first  batter  in  the  seventh.  Babe 
managed  to  give  Roger  a  base  on  balls.  Cam  sacri- 

238 


THE    SECOND    STRUGGLE 

ficed  him  to  second  and  Laird,  the  third  batter,  hit 
sharply  to  Hans  who  threw  to  Delvin  and  caught 
Brest.  Beach,  the  next  batter,  gave  the  signal  to 
Laird  for  the  hit  and  run  and  worked  it  successfully 
and  then  also  tried  to  work  the  double  steal.  They 
were  unsuccessful,  as  Laird  was  caught  at  the  plate 
by  quick  work  between  Everson  and  Gibbie. 

In  the  second  half,  with  the  crowd  standing, 
Huyler,  the  pinch  hitter,  went  in  to  bat  for  Babe  and 
drove  a  long  fast  liner  to  right  which  Twitchell 
caught  after  a  great  run  backward.  It  should  have 
been  a  triple,  at  least,  but  the  way  these  two  teams 
were  fielding  it  was  almost  impossible,  seemingly,  to 
drive  the  ball  out  of  their  reach.  Everson  went  out, 
pitcher  to  first,  and  Larke  also  was  out  by  way  of 
shortstop  to  first. 

Black  in  the  eighth  inning  went  in  to  pitch 
for  Lowell.  Church,  first  up,  was  easy  for  Ever- 
son and  Case  and  then  Case  and  Black  attended  to 
Hollins. 

La  Joy  walked  to  the  plate  and  stood  there  swing- 
ing his  bat  carelessly  and  easily.  Finally  Black, 
after  looking  him  over,  pitched  a  ball  that  cut  the 
plate  and  before  Larry  hit  it,  Miner  knew  part  of 
what  would  happen.  When  he  saw  it  leave  the  bat, 
however,  and  heard  the  crack  he  knew  that  ball  was 
headed  for  outside  and  sure  enough  it  was.  It  went 
over  the  center  field  fence  ten  feet  high  and  never  was 
found.  Larry  simply  jogged  around  the  bases  while 
Lowell  hopes  seemed  to  be  dashed  to  earth.  Sam 
Warcford  took  encouragement  from  Larry's  swat, 

239 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

but  his  hit  got  no  farther  than  Delvin,  who  threw 
him  out  at  first. 

Hughie  put  some  ginger  into  the  boys  at  this  stage 
of  the  game.  '  They're  only  two  runs  ahead  and 
weVe  often  made  six  in  one  inning,"  said  he  as 
Talkington  walked  to  the  plate.  Tris  did  his  part, 
and  drove  a  single  to  right  which  might  have  been 
a  two  bagger  but  which  Twitchell  fielded  perfectly, 
and  Tris  went  back  to  first,  when  Twitchell  threw 
to  second.  Then  Ty  bunted  to  the  pitcher's  box  and 
Cam  fumbled,  and  both  Tris  and  Ty  were  safe,  Cam 
was  clearly  going  up  and  the  Lowell  rooters  were 
doing  all  they  could  to  help  him. 

Hans  came  up  and  Church  walked  over  to  the  box 
and  tried  to  give  Cam  a  chance  to  cool  off  a  bit  by 
talking  to  him  and  instructing  him  also  to  give  Hans 
his  base.  Cam  pitched  two  balls  very  much  to  the 
right  of  the  plate  from  the  catcher's  position  which 
Hans  couldn't  have  reached  with  a  twelve-foot  bat, 
and  then  Hans  jumped  to  the  other  side  of  the  plate 
and  started  to  bat  left  handed  so  as  to  reach  the  balls, 
but  then  Cam  put  the  next  two  very  much  to  the  left 
of  the  plate  and  there  was  nothing  for  Hans  to  do 
but  walk  to  first.  There  were  now  three  on  bases 
and  Hal  was  up. 

Here  was  the  first  real  chance  he  had  had  in  either 
game  to  show  what  he  could  do  with  his  bat  and 
everybody  else  had  been  hitting  Cam  so  here  was 
his  chance.  Just  then,  however,  Captain  Church 
waved  to  Cam  with  his  right  and  motioned  to  Mellen 
with  his  left  and  Cam  left  the  box  and  Mellen  went 

240 


THE    SECOND    STRUGGLE 

in.  "  Well,"  thought  Hal,  "  Mellen  probably  isn't 
very  well  warmed  up  and  he  ought  to  be  able  to  hit 
now."  The  first  two  balls  pitched  were  bad  ones  and 
were  so  called  by  the  umpire. 

"  Just  let  him  put  one  over,"  said  Hal  to  himself, 
"  and  I'll  put  it  over  the  fence."  But  Mellen  wasn't 
pitching  that  kind  of  a  ball  just  then.  The  third  ball 
pitched  Hal  struck  at  and  missed.  The  next  one  was 
straight  over  but  looked  high,  and  the  umpire  called  it 
a  strike,  at  which  the  stands  roared  in  rage.  The 
next  one  was  a  pretty  good  one  but  Hal  took  a  chance 
and  let  it  go  by  and  the  umpire  called  "  Ball  three." 
It  was  now  two  strikes  and  three  balls,  and  Mellen 
decided  to  put  the  next  one  over  and  take  a  chance. 
It  came  straight  for  the  plate;  Hal  took  a  mighty 
swing  at  it  and  the  ball  started  on  a  line  for  second, 
but  Mellen  stuck  out  his  right  hand,  knocked  it  down 
and  threw  to  Brest  in  time  to  force  Talkington  at 
the  plate.  Hal's  chance  was  gone.  He  would  have 
made  good  only  Mellen  didn't  mind  taking  a  chance 
with  his  pitching  hand.  Most  pitchers  would  have 
preferred  to  sidestep  the  danger.  There  were  still 
three  on  base  and  Arthur  was  at  bat.  He  got  three 
balls  and  two  strikes  on  account  of  fouls,  and  then 
Mellen  gave  him  one  where  he  could  hit  it  but  it 
was  a  pop  fly  which  fell  into  Hollins'  mitt  and  there 
were  two  out.  It  was  now  Gibbie's  chance  to  save 
the  game,  but  Mellen's  pitching  was  too  swift  for  him 
until  he  also  had  three  balls  and  two  strikes  and 
then  he  knocked  a  long  fly  to  Warcford  and  the  inning 
was  over. 

241 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Black  gathered  himself  together  for  a  mighty 
ninth  inning  effort.  He  felt  sure  of  the  fielding  of 
the  boys  behind  him,  but  he  made  up  his  mind  to 
take  as  few  chances  as  necessary.  So  he  decided  to 
strike  out  the  side  if  he  could,  and  after  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  that  with  Twitchell  and  Brest,  he  had 
a  lot  of  confidence  in  his  ability  to  do  the  same  to 
Mellen,  and  he  did  it. 

The  last  half  of  the  ninth  opened  rather  well  for 
Lowell.  Black  was  the  first  man  up  and  he  fooled 
the  entire  Jefferson  infield  by  a  perfect  bunt  which 
put  him  on  first.  This  surely  was  a  good  start. 

Everson,  however,  waited  too  long.  He  let  two 
strikes  be  called  on  him,  and  they  were  good  ones, 
too.  The  third  one  looked  good  also  and  Johnny 
struck  at  it  and  missed  and  there  was  one  out.  Cap- 
tain Larke  then  knocked  one  down  the  line  toward 
Church  and  the  latter  tried  to  complete  the  out 
unassisted,  but  Larke  beat  him  to  the  bag  and  Black 
reached  second.  Tris  knocked  a  slow  rolling  grounder 
to  Hollins  and  by  the  time  he  got  to  it  he  could  only 
catch  Tris  at  first,  for  Black  had  reached  third  and 
Larke  was  at  second. 

Robb  came  to  bat  feeling  good.  He  was  to  have 
his  great  chance  after  all.  Two  men  on  bases  and  a 
single  would  tie  the  score.  He  even  allowed  himself 
to  remember  that  a  homer  would  win  the  game  for 
Lowell.  Mellen  on  the  other  hand  realized  his  great 
chance.  If  he  could  outguess  Robb  this  time  there 
would  be  a  game  to  Jefferson's  credit.  His  was  the 
first  move  and  he  tried  to  tempt  Ty  with  a  ball,  but 

242 


THE    SECOND    STRUGGLE 

Ty  let  it  pass.  Then  Mellen  tried  him  with  another 
one  of  the  same  kind,  thinking,  perhaps,  Ty  would 
bite  on  the  second  one,  but  he  just  waited. 

The  next  ball  came  straight  over  the  plate  and 
Ty  hit  it  and  it  went  sailing  out  over  first  base,  a 
fast  liner  that  didn't  stop  till  it  hit  the  fence,  but 
it  was  like  La  Joy's  ninth  inning  hit  in  the  first  game, 
only  longer,  for  it  struck  the  fence  two  feet  outside 
of  the  line  and  the  umpire  said,  "  Foul  one  strike." 

The  next  ball  also  came  straight  and  Ty  thought 
to  fool  them  by  bunting.  He  did,  and  almost  per- 
fectly, as  the  ball  didn't  roll  over  six  feet  in  all.  Black 
was  nearly  at  the  plate  before  Ty  got  started  to  first 
but  as  hard  luck  would  have  it  the  last  foot  of  the 
distance  the  ball  rolled  outside  the  foul  line  and  it 
was  "  Two  strikes  "  and  everybody  went  back  to 
where  they  were  before.  Then  it  was  a  study  to 
watch  Mellen  and  Robb. 

Would  Mellen  send  another  one  straight  over  and 
try  to  make  him  think  it  would  curve  or  would  he 
send  one  up  wide  of  the  plate  and  make  it  curve 
in,  or  would  it  be  a  high  one  that  would  drop  to  the 
strike  level  at  the  plate?  It  was  a  great  guessing 
match  that  lasted  for  several  seconds. 

Then  slowly  Mellen  began  his  wind  up.  The 
ball  started  for  the  plate.  It  was  coming  straight 
over.  Was  it  possible  that  Mellen  had  decided  to 
take  a  chance  on  his  hitting  it  safe?  Ty  thinks  he'll 
fool  him  on  that.  He  will  just  put  that  ball  over  the 
fence.  He  pulls  back  his  bat  to  meet  it  squarely. 
He  makes  a  savage  swing  at  it  and  listens  for  the 

243 


WON    IN    THE   NINTH 

crack  of  the  bat.  Instead  he  hears  a  thud — and  Ty 
knew  he  had  struck  out,  and  the  game  was  lost  to 
Lowell  by  the  score  of  4  to  2. 

BOX  SCORE 


JEFFERSON 
Laird,  3b  

AB 

R 

n 

H 

PO 

2 

A 

E 

o 

LOWELL 
Everson,  2b.  . 

AB 

5" 

R 

H 

PO 

2 

A 

E 

Beach,  cf  

n 

2 

o 

o 

Larke,  If 

i 

2 

Church,  ib  
H  oil  ins,  ss  

4 

0 
y 

0 

10 

0 

o 
o 

Talkington,  cf  .  . 
Robb,  rf 

5 

0 
o 

2 

0 

0 

0 

La  Joy,  2b  
Warcford,  If..  .  . 

4 

I 

7 

2 
2, 

0 
I 

o 

0 

o 

Hagner,  ss  
Case,  ib 

4 

0 
o 

1 

o 

2 

7 

3 

Twitchell,  rf  .  .  . 

•i 

n 

-J 

1 

o 

Delvin,  3b  

o 

o 

•j 

•j 

o 

Brest,  c  

2 

n 

o 

8 

o 

o 

Gibbs,  c 

o 

I 

R 

i 

Cam.  o 

n 

o 

o 

I 

Mcllen,  p  

I 

n 

o 

o 

o 

Black,  p  .. 

I 

n 

* 

o 

• 

3* 

4 

12 

27 

II 

I 

Huylerj-  

i 

0 

O 

o 

o 

0 

39    2  ii  *25  16    i 


JEFFERSON o     i     o    o    o 


LOWELL. 


oooi 


2     i 
o    o 


Two  Base  Hit— Gibbs,  Twitchell. 

Three  Base  Hit— Robb,  Beach. 

Home  Run — La  Joy, 

Sacrifice  Hits— Brest,  Case,  Cam. 

Stolen  Bases — Hagner,  2;  Larke,  I. 

Left  on  Bases — Lowell,  10;  Jefferson,  6. 

First  Base  on  Errors— Lowell,  i;  Jefferson,  i. 

Double  Play — Hagner,  Case — Everson,  Case. 

Struck  Out — by  Radams,  3;  by  Cam,  3;  by  Mellen,  2;  by  Black,  3. 

Bases  on  Balls — off  Cam,  3;  off  Radams,  4. 

Hits — off  Cam  in  seven  innings,  8;  off  Radams  in  seven  innings   n. 

*  Cam  out  bunting  third  strike.     La  Joy  out;  hit  by  batted  ball. 

•j-  Batted  for  Radams  in  seventh  inning. 

It  was  now  one  game  apiece  and  it  would  take  a 
third  to  decide  the  championship. 


244 


CHAPTER    XXIV 

HANS'  SECOND  TRIP  TO  NEW  YORK 

FOR  the  second  time  in  the  history  of  the  contests 
between  the  two  big  schools  each  had  won  a  game 
and  it  was  necessary  to  play  a  third  game  to  decide 
the  championship.  To  provide  for  such  cases  they 
had  a  rule  that  where  a  third  game  was  necessary 
it  must  be  played  on  neutral  ground,  the  location 
to  be  agreed  upon  by  the  captains.  This  was 
generally  done  by  tossing  a  coin.  The  winner  had 
the  right  to  name  the  place. 

This  was  a  very  important  matter  to  decide  in  such 
a  simple  way,  as  the  team  securing  the  choice  of 
location  for  this  game  also  secured  sixty  per  cent  of 
the  gate  receipts  after  the  expenses  were  paid,  the 
money  all  going  of  course  to  the  athletic  fund.  You 
would  think  that  this  arrangement  and  the  attractive 
feature  of  the  gate  money  would  cause  the  boys  to 
try  to  break  even  on  the  first  two  games  every  year, 
but  the  fact  that  this  was  only  the  second  time  in 
twenty  years  that  it  occurred  goes  to  show  how  square 
the  games  were. 

When  they  came  to  toss  the  coin  this  time  Hughie 
called,  "  Heads,"  and  heads  it  was.  He  promptly 
said,  "  We  will  play  it  at  the  Polo  Grounds  in  New 

245 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

York,"  and  Mr.  Williams,  the  treasurer  of  the 
university,  immediately  arranged  the  matter  by 
telegraph. 

This  suited  both  teams  very  well.  They  would 
break  training  immediately  after  the  game  and  the 
long  strain  would  be  over,  whichever  team  won  the 
final  game.  The  game  would  be  played  on  Thursday, 
and  they  could  take  Friday,  Saturday,  and  Sunday  to 
have  a  look  at  the  big  city,  and  victors  and  losers 
would  be  royally  entertained  by  the  alumni  of  both 
colleges  who  lived  there. 

So  they  arranged  for  the  reception  of  the  team's 
return  to  take  place  on  the  following  Monday  evening 
and  everybody  hoped  and  believed  they  would  come 
back  as  champions  again. 

The  Jefferson  team  meantime  were  hailed  as 
friends  and  were  given  morning  practice  privileges 
on  Lowell  field  and  treated  right  royally  so  far  as 
the  training  rules  would  permit.  They  got  very 
well  acquainted  during  the  four  or  five  days  they 
spent  together,  and  the  old  timers  on  both  the  teams 
regaled  the  youngsters  with  tales  of  the  thrilling 
plays  that  had  occurred  between  Jefferson  and  Lowell 
teams  of  the  past.  Most  of  them  had  been  told  many 
times  at  each  school,  but  repeated  under  such  con- 
ditions were  doubly  interesting. 

During  one  of  these  fanning  bees  the  talk  as  usual 
turned  to  famous  fielding  stunts,  and  many  stories 
were  again  told  of  famous  fielders  and  the  baseball  in- 
stinct. "  I  think  the  greatest  fielder  who  seemed  to 
have  this  instinct,"  said  La  Joy,  "  was  Hugh  Duff.  I 

246 


HANS'  SECOND  TRIP  TO  NEW  YORK 

have  seen  him  a  score  of  times  out  in  our  sun  field 
catch  the  ball  by  instinct  after  losing  it  in  the  sun. 
Where  another  fielder  would  dodge  and  turn  his  back, 
Duff  would  just  stick  his  hands  up  and  catch  it.  He 
himself  said  often  that  he  didn't  know  how  he  did  it." 

"  Well,  I  think  the  fellow  who  had  the  highest 
development  of  playing  ball  by  instinct,"  said  Pop 
Anderson,  who  was  staying  around  with  the  boys, 
"  was  Walter  Brodie.  He  seemed  to  know  from  the 
sound  made  by  the  bat,  when  the  ball  was  hit,  exactly 
where  it  was  going.  Many  a  time  I  have  seen  him 
start  to  run  for  a  hard-hit  fly  ball  without  even 
looking,  run  fifty  or  seventy-five  feet  even,  and  then 
turn  around  for  the  first  time  in  exactly  the  right 
spot  to  make  the  catch.  He  often  used  to  give 
exhibitions  before  the  games  of  turning  his  back  to 
the  ball  almost  as  soon  as  it  was  hit,  taking  a  run 
outward  and  making  the  catch  with  his  hands  behind 
his  back  and  his  back  to  the  ball.  It  may  have  been 
practice,  but  how  he  knew  where  the  ball  would  fall 
will  always  be  a  great  mystery  to  all  who  saw  him 
do  it." 

"  I'll  tell  you,  Ty,"  said  Captain  Larke,  "  of  a 
fielder  whose  record  you  can  look  up  and  when  you  get 
to  be  as  good  as  he  was,  you  will  be  pretty  near  the 
top.  I  mean  Tom  McCarthy.  It  was  he  who  intro- 
duced the  trapped  ball  on  outfield  flies.  If  you  can 
learn  to  trap  a  ball  as  well  as  he  did  you  will  have 
learned  something  which  almost  every  outfielder  has 
tried  but  failed  to  do. 

4  To  *  trap  '  a  fly  ball  is  to  make  a  pick  up  out  of 
247 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

it,  as  you  know.  In  one  Lowell  game  years  ago  with 
Biltmore,  Tom  worked  his  4  trap  '  for  two  double 
plays.  Once  there  were  men  on  first  and  second. 
The  batter  sent  a  short  fly  to  Tom.  Of  course  the 
runners  held  to  the  bases.  Instead  of  making  the 
catch  which  would  have  been  easy,  Tom  scooped  it 
off  the  ground.  The  man  on  first  was,  of  course, 
forced  and  the  man  on  second  was  caught  on  his  way 
to  third.  Later  in  the  same  game  on  the  same  kind 
of  a  fly  ball,  Tom  made  believe  he  was  going  to  trap 
the  ball  again,  so  the  man  on  second  took  a  big  lead. 
Tom,  however,  made  a  fly  catch  out  of  it  and 
throwing  to  second  made  a  double  play  once  more." 

4  You'll  never  be  able  to  catch  a  Jefferson  player 
again  like  you  did  last  year,"  said  Frank  Church 
to  Everson. 

"  How's  that,"  said  Talkington. 

'  Well,  I  won't  mention  the  name  of  the  boy  he 
caught,  because  he  is  present  and  he  doesn't  like  the 
story,  but  this  same  brilliant  player  was  on  first  in 
one  of  the  games  and  had  started  to  steal  second. 
The  batter  made  a  beautiful  line  hit  to  center  on  a  line 
about  fifteen  feet  high.  Everson,  there,  stood  at  sec- 
ond, looked  up  and  pretended  to  be  getting  ready  to 
catch  a  nice  little  pop  fly.  Seeing  this,  our  good  Mr. 
Player  having  failed  to  keep  his  eye  on  the  ball 
hustled  back  to  first,  but  by  the  time  he  had  got  back 
and  taken  a  second  look  he  saw  the  center  fielder  pick- 
ing up  the  ball.  Before  he  could  get  to  second,  the 
ball  had  been  thrown  to  Johnny,  here,  who  touched 
the  bag  for  a  force  out.  Johnny  only  laughed  but  our 

248 


HANS'  SECOND  TRIP  TO  NEW  YORK 

good  player  said  to  him  then,  *  Grin,  you  little 
shrimp,  grin.  You  had  me  good,  but  I'll  get  you 
some  day  for  it.' ' 

Everybody  had  a  good  laugh  at  this,  even  Martin, 
for  by  this  time  they  knew  who  it  was  by  his  sheepish 
expression,  but  they  didn't  see  how  he  could  get  even 
with  Everson. 

So  they  played  many  of  the  games  over  again  and 
got  very  well  acquainted  with  each  other  and  the 
rivalry  between  the  two  schools  was  laid  aside  for  the 
time  being.  They  left  for  New  York  on  Wednesday 
afternoon  on  the  same  train  and  acted  like  good 
friends  together  until  the  next  afternoon  in  New 
York  when  they  entered  the  Polo  Grounds  with  its 
row  after  row  of  seats  entirely  surrounding  the  big 
park,  when  the  big  crowd  that  had  come  to  see  the 
final  game  stirred  up  all  the  bitter  rivalry  and  they 
prepared  for  the  big  battle. 

When  they  awoke  in  New  York  in  the  morning, 
the  players,  many  of  whom  had  never  been  there, 
were  somewhat  surprised  to  find  that  the  town  was 
apparently  not  excited  about  what  was  going  to  hap- 
pen. People  seemed  to  be  going  about  their  business 
just  the  same  as  though  the  baseball  championship  was 
not  to  be  decided  there  that  day.  They  didn't  realize, 
of  course,  what  a  big  city  New  York  is  nor  the  habits 
of  its  people. 

By  noon,  however,  the  crowds  on  the  trolley  cars 
and  elevated  traveling  northward  were  enormous, 
and  it  soon  developed  that  the  town  was  headed  for 
the  Polo  Grounds.  New  York  had  simply  hustled 

249 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

in  the  morning  to  get  its  business  out  of  the  way,  so 
it  could  do  as  it  pleased  in  the  afternoon  and  it 
pleased  New  York  to  try  to  see  the  game. 

When  the  teams  got  up  to  One  hundred  and  Fifty- 
fifth  Street  they  were  as  much  surprised  as  they  had 
been  in  the  morning.  The  whole  town  seemed  to  be 
there.  Enough  to  make  a  good-sized  city  inside  and 
about  twice  as  many  outside  trying  to  get  in. 

The  gates  were  locked  at  noon,  three  hours 
before  the  game.  There  was  room  for  no  more. 
The  players  got  through  the  crowd  as  best  as  they 
could.  With  the  help  of  the  policemen,  they  managed 
to  clear  sufficient  space  in  front  of  the  stands  to 
engage  in  a  little  practice  and  to  warm  up  the  pitchers. 
But  there  was  little  real  practice  done  that  day 
outside  of  enough  to  limber  up  their  muscles. 

Their  biggest  effort  was  to  keep  their  nerve  in 
front  of  that  immense  crowd.  The  familiar  scenes 
of  the  other  games  were  presented,  but  now  green 
mixed  with  maroon  throughout  the  stands.  One 
section  of  seats  all  green,  the  next  maroon,  etc.  The 
same  noise  clubs  led  the  cheers  and  songs.  Most  of 
the  people  in  the  stands  knew  the  songs  and  cheers 
of  the  rival  schools.  They  gave  them  with  a  wealth 
of  music.  A  yell  and  then  a  chorus.  The  singing 
coaches  started  "  Fair  Lowell."  The  stands  took  it 
up.  The  wave  of  sound  mounted  and  mounted  as 
the  crowd  joined  in  and  rose  on  its  feet  until  all  the 
stands  presented  the  thrilling  spectacle  of  a  singing 
multitude,  with  a  kaleidoscopic  background  of  color 
that  changed  from  green  and  white  to  maroon  and 

250 


HANS'   SECOND  TRIP  TO  NEW  YORK 

white  and  back  again,  a  grand  glorious  tumult  of 
voices.  They  sang  the  u  Alma  Mater,"  too. 

The  umpires  emerged  from  under  the  stands  and 
walked  out  onto  the  field.  There  was  no  consultation 
with  managers.  The  batting  orders  had  been  handed 
in  early.  The  gong  sounded.  It  was  time  for  the 
game  to  begin.  Then  came  a  sudden  stop.  Which 
team  was  to  go  to  bat  first?  Of  course  it  was  neutral 
ground  and  that  question  must  be  decided.  Hughie 
and  Church  tossed  the  coin.  They  looked  at  it  as 
it  landed  on  the  turf.  Was  it  heads  or  tails?  They 
both  walked  back  to  their  benches.  The  umpire  made 
his  usual  announcement  of  the  batteries. 

The  crowd  did  not  yet  know  which  team  had  won 
the  advantage  of  first  in  the  field.  The  umpire  said, 
"  Batter  up."  Then  from  the  Lowell  bench  you 
could  see  the  team  arise  quickly  and  trot  out  on  the 
field.  The  Lowell  "  rooters  "  started  a  mighty  cheer. 
The  advantage  of  first  field  was  theirs.  It  was  only 
a  slight  advantage  but  their  team  thought  it  an 
advantage  and  that  made  it  one. 

A  sudden  hush  falls  over  the  vast  multitude.  You 
can  almost  hear  a  pin  drop.  Laird  at  the  plate,  and 
Black  in  the  box.  Again  that  first  ball  may  be  the 
all  important  one.  On  it  may  hang  victory,  or  defeat 
for  either  side.  The  crowd  sits  back  silent,  waiting. 
They  are  ready.  So  are  the  players.  Alert,  waiting. 
Suddenly  the  ball  shoots  toward  the  plate  like  a  white 
streak.  The  big  final  battle  is  on. 


251 


CHAPTER    XXV 

THE    FINAL   GAME 
LOWELL  JEFFERSON 

Everson,  2b  Laird,  3b 

Larke,  If  Beach,  cf 

Talkington,  cf  Church,  ib 

Hagner,  ss  Hollins,  ss 

Robb,  rf  La  Joy,  2b 

Case,  ib  Warcford,  If 

Delvin,  3b  Twitchell,  rf 

Gibbs,  c  Brest,  c 

Black,  p  Mellen,  p 

LAIRD  waited  and  Black  pitched  two  balls  which 
didn't  fool  him  any,  and  then  Miner  put  two  over 
which  cut  the  corners  of  the  plate,  one  of  which 
Laird  struck  at  and  missed  and  the  other  was  called 
by  the  umpire.  It  was  two  and  two.  Then  Miner 
tried  to  tempt  Harry  with  a  wide  one  and  the  umpire 
called  it  a  ball,  making  it  two  and  three,  and  Black 
was  forced  to  put  it  over.  He  served  up  one  of  the 
kind  that  is  hard  to  put  outside  of  the  diamond 
and  Laird  hit  it  for  a  bounder  straight  to  the  pitchers' 
box  and  Miner  set  himself  for  an  easy  assist,  when 
just  as  the  ball  was  all  but  in  his  hands,  it  took  an 
extra  bounce  and  went  high  up  over  his  head  and 

252 


THE    FINAL   GAME 

neither  Miner  nor  Everson  could  get  near  it  in  time 
to  catch  Laird  at  first. 

Beach  let  two  go  by  and  then  hit  one  on  the  ground 
to  Everson,  who  tried  for  a  force  out  at  second;  but 
Laird  beat  this  throw  and  both  runners  were  safe. 

Captain  Church  immediately  sacrificed  Laird  and 
Beach  to  third  and  second  respectively.  On  his  way 
to  the  bench,  the  Jefferson  captain  put  his  right  hand 
on  Hollins'  left  shoulder  as  he  passed  him  and 
Hollins  walked  to  the  plate  and  gave  Laird  the  signal 
for  the  "  squeeze  "  play,  Laird  started  for  home  as 
soon  as  the  pitcher  began  to  wind  up  and  Hollins  hit 
the  ball  smartly  for  a  grounder  between  third  and 
short  which  Delvin  went  after  and  fumbled.  There 
was  no  chance  to  get  the  runner  at  the  plate  of  course. 
The  squeeze  had  been  worked  beautifully,  and  with 
the  Lowell  infield  watching  for  it.  Arthur's  fumble 
was  just  bad  enough  in  addition  to  give  Hollins  time 
to  get  to  first  and  this  and  the  first  score  put  Black 
in  the  hole  to  such  an  extent  that  when  La  Joy  came 
up  he  wanted  to  give  him  a  base  on  balls,  but  only 
decided  to  do  so  after  Hughie  gave  him  the  signal 
from  the  bench. 

This  bit  of  strategy,  however,  and  the  hope  of 
thereby  retiring  the  side  on  a  double  play  didn't  work 
for  Sam  Warcford  was  the  next  batter.  Everybody 
was  expecting  him  to  try  for  a  long  one  but  he 
turned  his  best  chance  into  what  was  better  still, 
a  Texas  Leaguer  in  left  which  scored  Beach. 

It  began  to  look  like  the  kind  of  a  game  the  fans 
like  right  there. 

253 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

The  infield  came  in  and  Twitchell,  the  batter,  tried 
to  drive  one  out  of  Hans'  reach  to  his  right,  but 
Hans  made  a  beautiful  stop  and  threw  to  Gibbie, 
forcing  Hollins. 

The  Lowell  boys  breathed  a  little  easier  as  there 
were  now  two  out  although  the  bases  were  filled. 

Roger  Brest  came  to  bat  and  Black  had  in  mind 
the  way  Roger  had  worried  him  in  the  other  games 
and  decided  to  get  him.  Brest  let  the  first  one  go 
by  and  it  was  a  strike.  The  second  ball  he  struck 
at  with  a  mighty  swing  and  missed.  Roger  seemed 
to  be  slow  in  recovering  from  his  swing  and  Miner 
tried  to  sneak  a  straight  one  over  on  him.  But  Brest 
was  only  pretending  for  he  hit  that  ball  for  about 
as  swift  a  liner  as  ever  was  hit,  about  six  feet  to 
Hal's  right.  It  looked  like  a  sure  hit  and  the 
Jefferson  Singing  Club  was  already  cheering  Roger 
when  Hal  stuck  out  his  right  hand  and  the  ball  stuck 
in  his  glove.  Then  it  was  time  for  Lowell  to  cheer, 
for  the  spectacular  catch  had  saved  two  runs  at  least, 
and  four  runs  in  the  first  half  is  almost  too  much  of 
a  handicap.  It  had  been  a  hard  inning  for  Lowell 
to  get  by. 

Everson  started  the  ball  rolling  by  hitting  the  first 
ball  for  a  single  to  right,  just  to  show  the  other 
fellows  that  there  were  others  who  had  batting  eyes. 
Captain  Larke's  attempt  at  a  safe  one  through  the 
pitcher's  box  went  a  little  too  near  where  La  Joy 
was  playing  and  Everson  was  forced  at  second. 

Talkington  tried  hard  to  put  one  over  Twitchell's 
head,  but  all  he  got  out  of  it  was  the  satisfaction  of 

254 


THE    FINAL   GAME 

seeing  that  sterling  right  fielder  make  another  of  his 
sensational  catches. 

Robb  hit  one  in  Rollins'  direction  which  was  too 
hot  for  the  Jefferson  shortstop  to  handle,  though  it 
was  almost  straight  into  his  hands  and  it  went  as  an 
error  against  him  and  Robb  was  safe. 


It  looked  as  though  Mellen  intended  to  walk  Hans, 
who  was  next  up,  for  the  first  three  balls  were  wide 
of  the  plate.  The  fourth,  however,  whether  inten- 
tional or  not,  cut  the  outer  corner  and  Hans  quickly 
turned  it  into  a  long  single  to  left  center,  which  scored 
Larke.  Robb  thought  this  was  a  good  time  to  tie 
the  score  and  tried  to  come  all  the  way  home  on 
the  play.  At  that  he  came  pretty  near  making  it,  for 
he  made  a  beautiful  slide  and  was  nipped  by  inches 
on  the  relay  from  Beach  to  Hollins  to  Brest.  The 

255 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

crowd  settled  back  to  enjoy  what  promised  to  be  one 
of  their  favorite  games — lots  of  hitting  and  sharp 
fielding. 

The  second  inning  opened  with  Mellen  at  bat,  and 
Black  went  after  him.  He  got  two  strikes  on  him 
right  away,  but  Mellen  made  a  weak  effort  on  the 
next  ball  and  it  rolled  to  the  pitcher's  box  and  was 
an  easy  out  for  Miner  and  Hal. 

Black  then  thought  he'd  make  it  one  of  his  good 
innings.  He  completely  outguessed  Laird  who 
struck  out,  and  when  Beach  looked  as  though  he 
didn't  believe  he  could  do  it  again,  he  put  one  straight 
over  on  Tommy  after  the  latter  had  fouled  one  off 
and  let  another  be  called  on  him,  and  Beach  struck 
out  also,  retiring  the  side. 

In  the  second  half  Hal  was  first  at  bat.  Hughie 
told  him  he  just  had  to  get  on  base  and  to  hit  it  out. 
Mellen  put  one  over  that  looked  good  and  Hal  struck 
at  it  with  his  short  bat  and  missed.  The  next  one 
looked  even  better  and  Hal  hit  it  for  one  of  those 
fast  curving  singles  over  Laird's  head  which  landed 
him  on  first. 

Delvin  fouled  out  to  Laird  and  Hal  made  a  clean 
steal  of  second  on  the  first  ball  pitched  to  Gibbie. 
He  then  made  an  effort  to  steal  third  and  in  Roger's 
anxiety  to  catch  him  he  tried  to  throw  before  he  had 
the  ball  secure  in  his  hand  and  it  bounded  off  his 
glove  for  a  short  passed  ball,  while  Hal  reached  third 
easily. 

Gibbie  came  across  with  the  needed  long  fly  to 
Warcford  in  left  and  Hal  brought  in  the  tying  run, 

256 


THE    FINAL   GAME 

Black,  next  to  bat,  made  a  hard  try  to  hit  one  of 
the  three  balls  that  Mellen  pitched  him,  but  he 
missed  all  three  of  them  and  as  he  picked  up  his 
glove  and  walked  into  the  box,  Hughie  said,  "  That's 
the  way,  old  boy,  save  your  wind  and  strength  for 
pitching." 

Captain  Manager  Church  was  first  at  bat  and  he 
hit  one  on  Arthur's  left,  which  both  Delvin  and 
Hagner  went  after.  It  was  too  fast  for  Arthur  to 
get  his  hands  on,  but  Hans  made  a  quick  lunge  and 
got  it  fifteen  feet  back  of  Delvin  and  threw  quickly 
to  first  where  Hal  made  a  neat  pick  up  and  retired 
Church.  Hollins  tried  to  bunt  the  first  ball  pitched 
and  missed.  Then  he  struck  hard  at  the  second  one 
and  missed,  and  with  his  mind  on  nothing  but  fooling 
the  Lowell  infield  by  his  change  of  tactics  he  forgot 
all  about  the  rules  when  he  saw  the  Lowell  boys 
playing  back  and  bunted  the  next  ball  which  rolled 
foul  and  he  was  called  out. 

La  Joy  made  one  of  his  mighty  efforts  after  getting 
two  strikes,  and  it  went  out  to  left  field  where  Captain 
Larke  caught  it  after  a  long  run  close  to  the  foul 
line. 

It -began  to  look  as  if  each  full  inning  would  be 
practically  the  same,  for  the  Lowell  half  of  the  third 
was  also  short.  Everson  batted  one  to  La  Joy  which 
was  easy  for  him,  and  Church,  then  Larke  and 
Talkington  were  both  retired  by  Hollins  and  Church. 

In  the  Jefferson  half  of  the  fourth  the  fun  began 
anew. 

Warcford  fouled  off  the  first  two  over  the  stands 
257 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

and  when  Black  offered  him  another  one  he  didn't  do 
any  waiting  either,  but  rapped  it  far  out  over  to 
right  center  in  Robb's  territory.  Ty  picked  it  up 


after  a  stern  chase  and  relayed  it  to  Hal,  for  Sam  was 
already  well  on  his  way  to  third  and  Ty  played  to 
catch  him  at  the  plate  in  case  he  tried  to  get  home. 
Things  looked  a  little  better,  however,  when 
Twitchell  went  out  on  a  pop  foul  to  Gibbie.  Black 
thinking  of  the  near  damage  which  Brest  had  done 
in  the  first  inning  walked  him,  planning  to  get  Mellen 
and  a  possible  double  play,  but  Big  George  knocked 
out  a  beautiful  sacrifice  fly  to  Talkington  which 
scored  Warcford.  Tris  saw  that  he  couldn't  get  the 
runner  on  third  and  quickly  threw  to  Everson  on 
second,  catching  Brest  between  the  bases.  He  was 

258 


THE    FINAL   GAME 

finally  run  down  by  Johnny  and  Hal,  the  latter 
getting  the  put  out. 

This  made  the  score  three  to  two  in  Jefferson's 
favor  and  it  was  up  to  Lowell  to  do  a  little  better. 

Robb  missed  one  and  fouled  off  another.  The 
third  one  was  also  a  foul,  a  tip,  and  Roger  held  on 
to  it  making  a  strike  out  for  Ty.  Then  Hans  walked 
to  the  plate  and  crouching  in  his  accustomed  manner 
watched  two  go  by — one  a  strike  and  the  other  a 
ball.  The  third  one  he  hit  on  a  beautiful  line  over 
Hollins'  head  between  Beach  and  Warcford.  Beach 
fielded  it  and  threw  to  third  as  Hans  had  already 
passed  second.  He,  however,  went  back  when  he 
saw  that  the  throw  would  beat  him. 

Hal  came  up  and  giving  the  signal  to  Hans  hit  a 
fast  grounder  to  the  left  of  the  pitcher's  box  which 
went  toward  second  like  a  shot  and  was  well  fielded 
by  Hollins.  Hans  was,  however,  almost  home  by 
this  time  and  all  Hollins  could  do  was  to  catch  Hal 
at  first  which  he  did.  The  score  was  again  tied  and 
two  out,  Delvin  made  the  third  one  by  knocking  a 
fly  into  Warcford's  hands. 

It  had  been  nip  and  tuck  between  the  two  teams 
up  to  this  time  with  the  advantage  of  a  lead,  when 
there  was  any,  always  with  Jefferson,  and  Lowell's 
best  efforts  were  used  to  keep  even. 

The  strain  was  beginning  to  tell  on  both  teams, 
and  Black  buckled  down  to  outguess  Laird,  the  first 
man  up  in  the  fifth,  but  Laird  was  the  best  guesser 
and  got  a  base  on  balls  when  Miner  failed  to  put  the 
third  one  over.  Tommy  Beach  made  a  beautiful 

259 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

bunt  down  the  third  base  line  and  as  Laird  had  a 
good  lead  off  first  he  got  all  the  way  around  to  third 
when  the  throw  went  to  first  and  Beach  was  out. 

Church  at  bat  signaled  Laird  for  another  squeeze 
play  and  Harry  did  his  part  all  right,  but  Jefferson's 
captain  missed  the  ball  and  Gibbie  touched  Laird 
out  at  the  plate.  Then  Church  hit  a  fast  bounder 
to  the  left  of  Arthur  who  made  a  great  stop  and 
throw  to  Hal,  retiring  Church. 

Gibbie  came  to  bat  and  singled  to  right  and 
there  was  great  hope  of  Lowell  getting  the  advan- 
tage. The  plan  went  through  all  right  so  far  as 
Miner  was  concerned,  as  he  sacrificed  and  Gibbie 
reached  second. 

This  brought  Johnny  to  bat  and  he  had  the  hard 
luck  to  touch  one  of  Mellen's  twisters  for  a  foul 
which  fell  into  Roger's  big  mitt  and  there  were 
two  out. 

Captain  Larke  tried  to  knock  the  ball  out  of  the 
diamond  but  the  best  he  could  do  was  an  easy  roller 
to  La  Joy  who,  however,  made  a  mess  of  it  with  two 
attempts  at  picking  it  up  before  getting  it,  and  by 
that  time  Larke  was  safe  on  first  and  Gibbie  on 
third. 

Larke  started  for  second  to  draw  the  throw  for 
the  double  steal  but  Roger  couldn't  be  tempted  to 
throw  the  ball  any  place  and  Cap  got  credit  for  a 
steal.  Having  struck  out  Robb  before,  Mellen 
walked  Talkington,  filling  the  bases,  and  then  Ty 
knocked  a  fly  to  the  fence  in  center  field;  but  when 
it  came  down  Beach  was  there  waiting  for  it. 

260 


THE    FINAL   GAME 

Hollins,  the  first  batter  for  Jefferson  in  the  sixth, 
ought  to  have  been  out,  as  he  knocked  a  liner  direct 
into  Robb's  hands.  Ty  dropped  it,  however,  and 
Hollins  hustled  to  first.  The  error  upset  the  boys 
a  little  and  when  Hollins  started  to  steal  second 
Gibbie  made  a  poor  throw  and  the  Jefferson  shortstop 
was  safe. 

La  Joy  waited  and  got  his  base  on  balls  which 
was  good  judgment  on  Black's  part  as  it  later 
developed.  Warcford  came  to  bat  and  struck 
viciously  at  the  first  ball  and  missed  and  the  infield 
guessed  that  Sam  was  bound  to  hit  it  out.  All  but 
Hal  did,  at  any  rate,  for  when  Miner  pitched  the 
next  ball  and  Sam  bunted  Hal  started  on  his  bunt 
fielding  run  to  the  plate,  and  making  a  quick  stop 
he  threw  to  Delvin  at  third,  forcing  Hollins.  Then, 
with  Warcford  on  first,  Twitchell  hit  a  fast  one  to 
Case,  who  made  a  one-hand  stop,  threw  to  Hans 
who  covered  second,  and  then  hustled  back  to  first 
in  time  to  receive  Hans'  return  throw  completing 
a  quick  double  play  and  retiring  the  side. 

Hans  came  up  in  the  Lowell  half  and  got  another 
double.  Hal  sacrificed  him  to  third  and  it  again 
looked  as  though  Lowell  might  take  the  lead.  Delvin 
made  what  ought  to  have  been  a  hit,  for  he  drove  a 
fast  liner  toward  first,  but  Church  stabbed  it  after  a 
mighty  leap  into  the  air,  and  there  were  two  out. 
Then  the  Lowell  hope  died  down  once  more  when 
Gibbie  hit  one  to  Mellen,  who  threw  him  out  to 
Church. 

Brest  struck  at  three  fast  ones  and  missed  all  of 
261 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

them.  Mellen  went  out  also  on  a  grounder  that  was 
easy  for  Hans  and  Hal.  Laird  came  along  with  a 
pretty  single  to  left,  but  was  immediately  caught 
stealing,  Gibbie  to  Hans. 

In  the  Lowell  half  Black  hit  one  between  first  and 
second,  which  Church  fielded  nicely  and  threw  to 
Mellen  who  covered  the  bag. 

Everson  hit  a  bounder  to  Hollins  who  let  it  roll 
between  his  legs,  and  Johnny  was  safe.  Larke  hit 
one,  which  La  Joy  got  with  little  effort  and  tossed  to 
Hollins,  forcing  Everson.  Larke  immediately  stole 
second,  Roger's  throw  being  high.  Talkington  caught 
them  all  napping  by  bunting  toward  third  and 
reached  first  safely.  Then  it  was  Robb's  turn  and  he 
tried  hard  swinging  on  the  first  ball  pitched  which 
was  one  of  Mellen's  twisters  again,  and  it  went  foul 
back  of  third  and  was  caught  by  Hollins  after  a 
great  run. 

The  eighth  started  well  and  ended  badly  for 
Lowell. 

Tommy  tried  for  his  usual  two  bagger,  but 
Talkington  got  in  the  way  of  his  fast  liner  after  a 
mighty  run  and  there  was  one  gone. 

Church  tried  to  put  one  in  short  right  but  it  went 
up  in  the  air  and  foul.  Case  got  it  after  a  backward 
run  near  the  first  row  of  the  grand  stand. 

Hollins  dropped  a  short  bunt  in  front  of  the  plate 
and  Gibbie  fumbled  it.  Hollins  was  easily  safe. 
It  did  not  look  bad  to  Black,  however,  as  there  were 
two  out  and  the  boys  were  fielding  nobly,  and  Miner 
intended  to  make  the  next  batter  knock  a  fly  if  he  hit 

262 


THE    FINAL    GAME 

it  at  all.  It  happened,  however,  to  be  La  Joy.  Larry 
fouled  off  four  and  it  was  certain  in  Black's  mind  that 
if  the  kind  of  balls  he  was  pitching  were  hit  they 
would  go  up  in  the  air,  so  he  put  over  another  one. 
Larry  acted  badly,  however,  for  he  straightened  out 
that  curve  for  a  two  bagger  between  Robb  and 
Talkington,  which  scored  Rollins.  This  rather  got 
Black's  nerves  temporarily  and  he  didn't  have  perfect 
control  of  himself.  When  Warcford  stepped  to  the 
plate,  Gibbie  signaled  for  a  low  ball.  Black  insisted 
upon  sending  them  up  on  the  inside.  Here  is  where 
Black  went  wrong,  for  Warcford  hit  the  first  one  for 
a  single  to  left  and  La  Joy  scored  from  second.  Two 
runs  in  and  both  of  them  after  two  were  out  and  it 
looked  like  the  game.  To  complete  the  inning, 
Warcford  tried  to  steal,  but  Gibbie  nailed  him  by 
four  feet  on  a  perfect  throw  to  Everson  and  the 
inning  ended  with  the  score  5  to  3  in  favor  of 
Jefferson. 

It  looked  bad  for  Lowell,  as  they  had  been  behind 
at  all  stages  of  the  contest  and  the  score  as  it  stood 
then,  taking  into  consideration  the  high-class  fielding 
of  both  teams,  made  it  look  as  though  Lowell  was 
surely  beaten. 

"  Now  is  the  time  to  do  it,"  said  Hughie  as  Hans 
walked  to  the  bat.  "  This  is  the  one  grand  chance 
to  get  them.  We  only  need  three,  Hans,  and  you 
can  get  one." 

Hughie's  coaching  made  no  difference  to  Hans 
either  way.  p  He  kept  his  eye  on  Mellen  and  the 
ball  and  when  Mellen  finally  sent  one  up  Hans 

263 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

smashed  it  for  a  single  to  right  which  got  him  to 
first. 

Hal  tried  to  hit  it  out  and  got  a  long  fly  to 
Warcford  which  kept  Hans  on  first. 

Delvin  came  up  determined  to  do  or  die  and  he 
dropped  a  beautiful  single  in  left  which  Warcford 
fielded  quickly,  holding  Hans  on  second.  Then 
Gibbie  tried  to  knock  the  cover  off  the  ball.  He 
struck  three  times  at  what  appeared  like  good  ones 
and  missed  three  of  them,  which  was  very  good  work 
on  Mellen's  part.  Hughie  now  sent  Huyler  up  to 
bat  for  Black.  Being  two  out  Hans  and  Delvin 
started  and  got  away  with  a  double  steal,  Hans  going 
to  third  and  Arthur  to  second. 

It  was  the  only  chance  Huyler  had  in  the  game. 
He  landed  on  the  second  ball  pitched  for  a  beautiful 
liner  which  went  to  the  right  field  fence,  but  the 
unbeatable  Twitchell  made  it  look  like  an  easy  out, 
for  he  timed  the  ball  to  the  instant  and  made  a 
running  catch  that  was  as  clever  as  any  that  had  been 
made  in  the  entire  game.  This  made  three  out  and 
Jefferson  still  two  runs  ahead. 

The  Jefferson  crowd  felt  they  had  the  game  salted 
away  and  the  team  needed  only  to  hold  its  advantage 
and  the  Championship  was  theirs.  At  the  same  time 
they  intended  to  make  the  most  of  their  last  time 
at  bat. 

Babe  Radams  went  in  to  pitch  for  Lowell  and 
Twitchell  feeling  good  over  his  line  catch  of  a 
moment  before  couldn't  be  stopped.  He  leaned 
against  the  third  ball  the  Babe  tossed  up  for  a 

264 


THE    FINAL    GAME 

well-played  single  to  right.  This  hit  and  Brest's 
monkey  shines  at  the  plate  got  Babe  going  for  a 
minute  and  Roger  walked.  Mellen,  good  hitter 
always,  wanted  to  drive  it  out,  but  Captain  Church 
ordered  the  sacrifice,  and  Twitchell  reached  third,  and 
Roger  got  to  second. 

Laird  came  up  to  turn  the  trick  and  knocked  one 
that  took  just  one  bound  in  Hans'  direction,  and  then 
tried  to  get  over  Hagner's  head,  but  Hans  went  up 
in  the  air,  lurching  somewhat  to  the  right,  got  it, 
and  with  the  same  motion  fired  the  ball  to  Gibbie, 
who  got  Twitchell  at  the  plate.  To  the  crowd  it 
looked  safe,  but  the  umpire  said  "  out "  and  that 
settled  it. 

Babe's  nerves  were  on  edge  by  this  time  and 
unfortunately  he  hit  Beach  with  a  pitched  ball  and 
the  bases  were  full.  This  put  everybody  more  or  less 
up  in  the  air  and  anything  might  happen. 

Church  now  came  to  bat.  He  was  trying  to  make 
Babe  walk  him,  and  he  did  get  three  balls.  Then  Babe 
put  two  over  which  the  Captain-manager  missed. 
The  last  one  he  hit  right  over  third  base  and  nine 
times  out  of  ten  it  would  have  been  a  safe  hit  but 
Arthur  managed  to  knock  it  down  with  his  right 
hand,  and  then  picking  it  up  hurriedly  he  fired  it  in 
Hal's  direction,  but  high.  If  there  ever  was  a  ball 
that  was  headed  for  the  grand  stand  it  was  that  one. 
For  height  it  came  near  the  record.  The  Jefferson 
crowd  went  wild,  but  they  had  never  really  seen  Hal 
climb  into  the  air.  He  ran  three  steps,  made  a 
mighty  leap  into  the  air,  his  back  to  the  ball,  and 

265 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

then  that  right  hand  of  his  shot  up  one,  two,  maybe 
four  feet  higher,  and  he  got  it.  He  was  as  far  from 
the  bag  almost  as  the  runner,  only  he  was  up  over  it. 
He  came  to  earth  feet  on  the  base  and  as  the  umpire 
waved  his  hand  for  the  out,  Hal  and  Church  came 
together  and  the  breath  was  knocked  out  of  both  of 
them: 

He  had  to  call  time,  for  these  boys  were  both 
unconscious  for  a  few  minutes. 

When  Hal  opened  his  eyes  his  first  words  were, 
"  Did  I  get  it,"  but  he  couldn't  hear  the  answer,  as 
the  stands  were  yelling,  "  Oh,  you  Hal!  Oh,  you 
Case !  "  and  then  he  heard  Arthur  say,  "  You  saved 
the  game  for  us,  Hal.  WeVe  got  another  chance," 
and  when  he  turned  to  Hughie  the  latter  just  shook 
his  hand.  He  was  too  much  overcome  to  speak. 

Then  Lowell  went  to  bat  for  the  final  half  of  the 
ninth  with  renewed  courage,  for  the  God  of  Cham- 
pions surely  intended  them  to  have  another  chance 
when  he  enabled  Hal  to  make  that  stop. 

It  had  been  a  stern  chase  all  the  way  for  Lowell 
and  now  it  was  up  to  them  for  the  last  time.  It  would 
take  three  runs  to  win,  but  they  had  often  made  three 
or  more  runs  in  the  last  half  and  Hal's  catch  had  put 
the  fire  back  into  their  hearts. 

That's  the  way  they  felt  when  Everson,  the  head 
of  the  batting  list,  came  up.  If  he  could  get  a  base 
on  balls  he  would  have  a  good  start  thought  he,  at 
least  he  decided  to  wait  until  the  count  was  two  and 
two.  That's  the  way  it  worked  out — two  balls  and 
then  two  strikes,  one  of  which  Johnny  tried  for.  He 

266 


THE    FINAL   GAME 

guessed  that  Mellen  would  try  to  put  the  next  one 
over  and  Johnny  decided  to  hit  it  out.  Mellen  on 
the  other  hand  wanted  him  to  guess  that  way  and  he 
sent  up  what  looked  like  a  fast  straight  one.  Johnny 
gave  his  sharp  quick  swing  and  missed.  He  had 
struck  out. 

It  was  a  bad  start.  Larke  came  up  and  without 
waiting  banged  the  first  ball  past  the  pitcher  and  out 
toward  second  base.  The  ball  hit  the  bag,  and 
glancing  off  at  an  angle  to  the  right  rolled  straight 
into  La  Joy's  hands  and  it  was  two  out  and  hope 
almost  dead. 

"  They  have  to  put  three  out  before  we're  beat, 
boys,"  called  Hughie  after  Talkington  as  the  latter 
picked  up  his  bat  and  started  for  the  plate  and  all  the 
Lowell  rooters  prayed  hard  even  while  hope  died 
within  them. 

Mellen  in  the  box,  cool,  confident,  and  with  the 
big  strain  nearly  over,  was  tempted  to  fool  with 
Talkington.  He  had  hopes  of  striking  him  out.  He 
started  two  balls  straight  for  the  plate  but  they  curved 
out.  Tris  let  them  go  by  and  the  umpire  said  after 
the  second  one,  "  Ball  two."  Then  he  started  one 
wide  of  the  plate  but  failed  to  get  the  curve  on  it 
and  it  went  for  third  ball.  The  next  two  came 
straight  over  but  Tris  never  moved  and  let  the  umpire 
call  "  Strike  two."  The  crowd  stood  up  ready  to 
go  home  as  Mellen  let  go  the  last  ball.  It  was  a 
wild  pitch  that  hit  the  ground  in  front  of  the  plate 
and  Talkington  trotted  to  first.  The  crowd  sat  down 
again.  There  might  be  something  doing  after  all. 

267 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

Mellen  was  surprised  and  a  little  nervous.  He  let 
the  first  one  slip  a  little  and  it  came  within  reach 
of  Ty's  bat,  who  connected  with  it  for  a  single  to 
right  on  which  Talkington  got  to  third.  Then  Ty 
stole  second,  which  wasn't  hard,  as  Roger  didn't  dare 
throw. 

The  slight  chance  had  developed  into  an  oppor- 
tunity for  the  next  batter,  who  was  Hans. 

Hughie  was  on  the  third  base  line  yelling,  "  Eyah! 
Eyah !  WeVe  got  them,  boys !  "  pulling  grass  with 
both  hands,  yelling,  whistling,  kicking  the  air  and 
calling,  "  You  can  do  it  "  to  Hans. 

Church  walked  over  to  the  pitcher's  box  and  La 
Joy  and  Brest  joined  them  where  they  held  a 
consultation  at  which  it  was  decided  to  walk  Hans. 
This  was  a  natural  thing  to  do,  as  Hal  who  was 
up  next,  while  a  good  batter,  was  not  so  sure  to  get 
it  safe.  Hans  knew  what  they  were  up  to  and  the 
Jefferson  boys  knew  he  knew  it.  So  he  stood  there 
at  the  plate,  more  or  less  resigned  to  his  fate,  acting 
as  though  it  wasn't  any  use  even  to  watch  the  balls 
as  they  were  pitched.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
standing  a  little  nearer  the  plate  than  he  usually  did 
although  Mellen  didn't  notice  this.  Hans  let  three 
go  by  and  they  were  about  as  wide  of  the  plate  as 
three  balls  could  be.  Hans  hadn't  moved.  When 
Mellen  started  to  pitch  the  fourth  ball  Hans'  bat 
was  swinging  in  his  left  hand.  The  ball  came  on 
high  and  wide  and  apparently  Hans  was  going  to 
take  his  base  but  as  the  ball  approached  he  took 
one  step  forward,  swung  his  bat  up  and  out  and  met 

268 


THE    FINAL   GAME 

the  ball  on  the  nose.  When  Mellen  heard  the  crack 
of  the  bat  his  arms  dropped  to  his  sides  and  he  didn't 
even  turn  to  look  where  the  ball  went.  He  knew 
that  ball  wasn't  meant  to  be  caught  by  any  fielder 
within  the  grounds.  As  it  went  over  Twitchell's 
head  that  fellow  also  knew  it  would  do  no  good  for 
him  to  give  chase  and  as  for  the  rest  of  the  Jefferson 
team,  all  of  them  except  Church  and  La  Joy  stood 
still  with  mouths  open  and  watched  the  ball  go  sailing 
clean  over  the  right-field  bleachers  into  the  runway 
which  leads  from  the  ticket  offices  into  the  grand 
stand,  and  if  they  could  have  followed  it  after  that 
they  would  have  seen  it  bounce  beyond  the  turnstile 
and  clear  out  onto  the  elevated  tracks,  where  it 
dropped  through  to  the  street.  The  aforesaid  Church 
and  La  Joy  merely  took  off  their  caps,  threw  them 
into  the  dust  and  stamped  on  them.  Then  they  picked 
them  up,  brushed  them  off  and  put  them  back  on 
their  heads. 

Meanwhile  Talkington,  Robb  and  Hagner  had 
touched  the  plate  and  were  trying  to  get  through 
the  crowd  of  Lowell  rooters  who  had  surrounded 
them  and  the  other  members  of  the  team. 

It  was  nothing  but  shoulders  for  the  boys  after 
that.  Up  they  went  surrounded  by  thousands  for  a 
parade  around  the  park. 

"Where's  Hal?  He  saved  it!"  shouted  the 
crowd,  and  then,  "  Where's  Hans?  He  won  it,"  and 
after  they  had  borne  these  two  to  the  head  of  the 
procession,  though  no  one  could  tell  how  it  was 
possible,  they  carried  them  round  the  field  a  dozen 

269 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 


times  to  the  music  of  Lowell  songs  and  yells,  to 
finally  land  them  at  the  Club  House  door  where 
they  left  them  to  bathe  and  dress,  after  giving  them 
to  understand  they  were  expected  to  attend  the  Lowell 
banquet  at  the  Waldorf  at  eight. 

Words  could  not  describe  the  reception  given  to 
Hans  and  Hal  by  their  team  mates  in  the  club  house 
of  the  New  York  Nationals  that  afternoon,  so  no 
attempt  will  be  made  to  do  so,  suffice  it  to  say  that 
it  was  thoroughly  impressed  on  both  that  but  for 
them  the  championship  had  been  lost,  and  their 
names  went  to  the  top  of  the  list  of  the  Lowell  Hall 
of  Heroes. 

BOX  SCORE 


LOWELL 
Everson,  ib..  .  . 
Larke,  If  

AB 

5 

c 

R 

o 

T 

H 
I 

o 

PO 

I 
I 

A 
i 
o 

E 

0 

0 

Talkington,cf.. 
Robb,  rf  

5 

r 

I 

2 

o 

I 

6 

0 

T 

Hagner,  ss.  ... 
Case,  ib        ... 

5 

2 

2 
| 

4 
I 

2 
12 

2 
r 

0 

o 

Delvin,  3b  
Gibbs,  c  

4 

O 
O 

I 

T 

I 

7 

0 

a 

Black,  p..  . 

2 

0 

0 

o 

7 

0 

Radams,  p  
Huyler  f  

0 
I 

0 

0 

0 
0 

0 

o 

0 
O 

0 

0 

38 

6 

10 

26 

'9 

3 

JEFFERSON 
Laird,  3b  
Beach,  cf  

AB 

-     4 

R 
i 
I 
o 
I 
i 
I 

0 

o 
o 

H 

2 
0 
O 

o 
I 

3 

i 
o 
o 

PO 
I 

i 
9 
3 
o 

3 

2 

6 

i 

A 

0 

I 

I 

5 
5 

0 
0 
0 

I 

E 

0 
0 
0 

2 
I 
0 
0 
0 

o 

Church,  ib... 
Hollins,  ss  
La  Joy,  ib..  . 
Warcford,lf.. 
Twitchell,  rf.. 
Brest,  c..  .  

5 
4 
4 
4 
4 

Mellen,  p. 



•     3 

35    5    7  *26  13    3 

LOWELL i     i     o     i     o    o    o    o    3 — 6 

JEFFERSON 20010002    o — 5 

Two  Base  Hits— Hagner,  2;  La  Joy,  i. 

Three  Base  Hit — Warcford.  Home  Runs — Hagner. 

Sacrifice  Hits — Case,  2;  Church,  i;  Beach,  i;  Black,  i;  Mellen,  I. 

Stolen  Bases — Case,  2;  Larke,  2;  Hollins,  i;  Hagner,  i;  Delvin,  i,  Robb,  I. 

Left  on  Bases — Lowell,  8;  Jefferson,  8. 

First  Base  on  Errors — Lowell,  ij  Jefferson,  I. 

Double  Play — Case,  Hagner,  and  Case. 

Struck  Out — by  Black,  3;  by  Mellen,  4. 

Hit  by  Pitcher— by  Radams,  i.  Wild  Pitch— by  Mellen,  i. 

Hits — off  Black,  6  in  eight  innings;  off  Radams,  i  in  one  inning. 

f  Batted  for  Black  in  eighth  inning. 

*  Hollins  out  bunting  third  strike. 

27O 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

HAL-HONUSED 

TIM  MURNIN  witnessed  the  great  deciding  game 
from  the  press  box,  at  the  Polo  Grounds,  where  he 
found  a  lot  of  other  budding  newspaper  men  who  had 
been  sent  to  New  York  to  report  the  game  for  various 
journals.  At  a  big  ball  game  you  find  all  kinds  of 
people,  and  every  class  of  newspaper  or  periodical 
reports  the  big  games  for  its  readers.  Naturally 
these  reporters  try  to  make  their  reports  interesting 
to  their  particular  kind  of  readers  and  that  is  why, 
for  instance,  Swat  Milligan  in  reporting  the  game  to 
the  Railway  Signal  described  it  in  language  that 
was  perfectly  intelligible  to  its  readers,  although  it 
might  be  puzzling  to  the  patrons  of  the  Farm 
Weekly. 

After  Tim  got  started  on  his  report  he  got  to 
looking  over  the  shoulders  of  the  other  reporters 
and  had  a  great  idea. 

This  is  it.  He  would  crib  an  inning  or  a  part  of 
an  inning  from  each  of  the  writers  near  him  just 
to  get  their  style,  and  he  did  it.  When  he  got  the 
jumbled  mass  together  and  arranged  it  according  to 
the  innings  he  wrote  an  introduction  and  wired  the 

271 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

report  to  Lowell,  where  it  appeared  in  the  Reporter 
the  next  day.     Here  it  is: 

LOWELL,  6 — JEFFERSON,  5. 

"  Hal  and  Honus,  the  incomparable  and  insepar- 
able beauties  of  the  Lowell  posy  garden,  render  the 
Jefferson  assault  hopeless  and  Tim  Murnin's  pets  are 
returned  as  champions. 

"  Childe  Harold,  the  peerless  bunt  killer  from  the 
Pacific,  stopped  them  all.  He  dug  them  out  of  the 
trenches,  climbed  into  the  ozone  for  the  high  ones, 
and  stabbed  the  wide  ones  for  as  natty  a  row  of 
put  outs  as  ever  graced  the  fourth  column  of  the  box 
score. 

"  Honus  bumped  the  opposing  slab  artists  for  an 
accumulation  of  ordinaries,  repeaters,  and  a  varied 
assortment  of  stick  talk,  including  a  sizzling  homer 
that  made  dents  in  the  car  tracks  on  Eighth  Avenue, 
and  brought  in  a  quarter  dozen  of  much  needed 
tallies,  just  enough  to  save  the  day." 

When  the  game  opened  Tim  looked  over  the 
shoulder  of  Swat  Milligan,  of  the  Railway  Signal, 
sitting  on  his  right,  and  this  is  what  he  read  as  a 
report  of  the  first  half. 

"  The  Laird  of  the  West  bumped  one  out  of  the 
home  station  which  Miner  tried  to  flag  as  it  switched 
to  the  overhead  track,  and  got  a  through  ticket  to 
Caseville. 

"  Beach  rolled  one  out  of  the  depot  which  ran  local 
all  the  way  to  Everson,  but  by  the  time  Johnny  shut 
off  the  power  Laird  had  caught  an  express  which 

272 


HAL-HONUSED 

landed  him  safely  at  the  middle  junction  and  Beach 
was  returning  to  the  first  stop  for  more  coal. 

"  Captain  Church  went  out  on  the  Sacrifice  Limited 
and  Laird  and  Beach  rolled  into  the  next  stops  on 
time. 

"  Hollins  now  received  orders  from  the  Chief 
Dispatcher  to  squeeze  the  Laird  Limited  through  and 
relieve  the  congestion.  He  made  an  opening  and  the 
Laird  came  through  with  wide  open  throttle  while 
Hollins  went  to  Caseville. 

"  Larry  wanted  a  special  for  a  joy  ride  but  there 
was  nothing  nearer  than  the  first  station,  and  the 
General  Superintendent  suggested  that  he  walk  there. 

"  Warcford  coaled  one  up  for  a  long  run  to  Larke- 
town,  but  the  steam  gave  out  back  of  Port  Arthur 
on  the  Texas  League  Division  and  Sam  went  to 
Caseville  too  as  Beach  pulled  into  the  depot  and  went 
to  the  tank  for  water. 

*  Twitchell  engineered  one  out  to  Hagnerville, 
but  Hans  got  his  hand  on  the  throttle  and  putting 
on  the  reverse  backed  it  into  the  home  station  where 
it  ran  into  and  wrecked  the  Hollins  Local. 

"  Brest  then  pushed  out  a  Cannon  Ball  Express 
on  the  upper  level,  but  Hal  was  walking  the  track  and 
it  came  to  a  dead  stop  when  he  set  the  block 
against  it." 

For  the  second  half  of  the  first  inning  and  first 
of  the  second,  Tim  poached  on  the  efforts  of  Francis 
Huff,  of  The  Flower  and  Fruit  Weekly  and  what  he 
saw  looked  good  enough  to  put  in  his  own  copy. 

"  Johnny  Everson  dispatched  an  unmarried  one 
273 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

to  right  just  to  show  he  had  an  eye  for  beauty.  The 
captain  pushed  a  clover  kisser  to  Larry  and  reached 
first  as  Johnny  faded  at  second.  Talkington  arched 
a  rainbow  to  the  outer  gardens,  but  Twitchell  was 
there  and  plucked  the  bags  of  gold  from  the  other 
end. 

"  Robb  then  shot  a  bunch  of  pepper  at  Hollins 
which  the  latter  made  a  mess  of,  and  Ty  got  to  first. 


11  Hans  was  invited  to  walk  down  to  The  Church 
but  he  preferred  to  stay  where  the  posies  wave  in 
the  breeze  until  he  poked  a  blossom  nipper  out  to 
Warcford's  daisy  patch  and  Larke  came  home  with 
the  first  bouquet  for  Lowell. 

"  Ty  was  anxious  to  bring  his  bouquet  home,  too, 
274 


HAL-HONUSED 

and  show  it  to  Hughie,  but  his  flowers  were  already 
in  full  bloom  and  wilted  in  the  dust  at  the  plate  when 
Roger  touched  them. 

"  Lowell  now  went  into  the  garden  and  Mellen 
planted  himself  at  the  rubber.  He  looked  ripe  to 
Black  who  tried  to  pluck  him.  He  nearly  did  it,  too, 
and  Mellen,  weakened,  dropped  from  the  vine,  and 
rolled  to  Miner  who  tossed  him  out  of  the  garden 
to  Hal.  Black  then  alone  got  the  Laird's  goat  and 
sent  him  to  the  shed  and  with  three  swings  cut  down 
the  young  Beach  that  grew  where  the  Laird  had 
stood." 

Then  there  was  a  fellow  sitting  in  front  of  him 
whom  nobody  knew,  who  was  writing  busily.  He 
must  have  been  connected  with  some  burglar  sheet, 
for  he  was  using  the  kind  of  talk  that  made  Tim 
look  to  see  if  his  pocketbook  was  still  there,  after 
he  had  dug  up  this  sample,  which  was  no  doubt 
intended  for,  say,  the  Second-Story  Weekly  or  some- 
thing like  that. 

"  In  the  second  half  of  the  deuce  stanza  Childe 
Harold  got  the  combination  of  the  safe  and  stole 
a  maiden  who  danced  on  his  left.  Arthur  came  out 
of  the  coop  to  show  what  he  had  but  his  best  was 
chicken  which  roosted  finally  in  Roger's  mitt. 

"  When  Gibbie  came  up  Hal  turned  robber  and 
purloined  the  middle  cushion  and  then  the  third  also, 
in  broad  daylight,  while  Roger  made  two  efforts  to 
grab  his  gun.  Gibbie  lifted  a  high  one  that  looked 
good  to  go  over  Warcford's  second  story  but  Sam 
turned  porch  climber  and  arrested  it.  Black  thrice 

275 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

got  the  scent  but  immediately  lost  it  and  was  sent 
to  the  box  to  look  for  the  other  clews." 

Abe  Zeager,  of  Pulpit  Platform  and  Song,  sat 
right  next  to  this  second-story  fellow  so  it  averaged 
things  up,  thought  Tim,  as  he  copied  what  was  said 
about  the  next  full  inning. 

"  The  Church  Captain  opened  the  next  meeting 
with  a  few  hot  remarks  which  he  addressed  particu- 
larly to  Delvin  and  Hagner.  They  were  too  deep  for 
Arthur's  study  box  but  struck  Hans  about  right  and 
he  put  Hal  next  as  the  Jefferson  captain  meandered 
down  the  first  aisle  and  the  captain  felt  put  out. 

"  Hollins  was  called  out  in  open  meeting  for 
violating  the  rules  of  the  committee  on  buntings, 
having  offended  the  third  time. 

"  La  Joy  started  a  song  with  a  false  high  note. 
The  Larke  caught  it  up  and  the  Professor  dismissed 
the  class  on  the  strength  of  it,  there  being  no  score, 
and  it  was  the  time  for  Lowell's  Choir  practice. 

"  But  it  was  of  short  duration,  as  Everson's  first 
note  was  off  the  key  and  on  Larry's  kick  Johnny  was 
put  out  of  the  class  and  Larke  and  Talkington  went 
out  to  Church  after  trying  to  get  beyond  Hollins- 
ville." 

Then  on  the  other  side  of  this  fellow,  strange  to 
say,  sat  Frank  Dichter,  of  the  Police  News,  who  no 
doubt  was  putting  it  all  in  language  that  the  boys 
down  at  headquarters  could  understand  and  Tim 
didn't  have  to  look  any  farther  for  a  characteristic 
account  of  what  happened  to  Jefferson  in  their  next 
time  at  bat. 

276 


HAL-HONUSED 

"  Warcford  scared  the  top  row  of  the  left-side 
bleachers  twice  and  two  small  boys  got  passes  to 
the  inside. 

"  The  third  one  stayed  inside  and  in  front  and 
Sammy  pulled  up  at  third  when  he  saw  Church 


rneJ    Li.Tder.n-  * 


waving  the  red  lantern  as  Ty  relayed  the  ball  to  Hal, 
who  ferried  it  to  Gibbie.  Twitchell  handed  a  horse- 
shoe to  Gibbie,  Roger  the  cop  was  let  go  to  his  beat 
without  swinging  his  stick.  Big  George  pried  the 
lid  off  when  he  handed  a  long  one  to  Tris  and 
Warcford  got  away  with  the  goods. 

277 


WON    IN   THE   NINTH 

"  Roger  was  caught  off  his  beat  and  chased  to  the 
station  by  Johnny  and  Hal." 

Farther  over  in  the  box  Tim  heard  some  ticker 
talk  about  the  market,  etc.,  and  he  went  over  to  see 
if  he  could  decipher  the  stuff  that  was  being  sent  out 
by  Sid  Mercury,  of  the  Salesman's  Review. 

"  Ty  hurried  out  to  see  what  was  being  offered  in 
the  market,  but  after  missing  the  best  there  was,  he 
sent  an  inquiry  up  among  the  dollar  sitters  and  when 
he  again  thought  he  saw  a  good  thing  he  found  it 
was  only  a  tip  which  Roger  had  acted  on. 

'  The  mighty  Hagner  Honused  forward  and  after 
inspecting  the  Mellen  spring  samples  gave  an  order 
for  three  bags,  paying  for  two  for  immediate  delivery. 
Beach  the  credit  man  canceled  the  order  for 
the  extra  bag  claiming  Honus'  credit  wasn't  good 
for  the  third  but  he  wasn't  anxious  to  extend  himself 
anyhow. 

"  Hal  came  up  but  he  wasn't  ready  to  buy  although 
he  did  make  a  pretty  fair  offer  to  Hollins  for  the 
best  he  had  in  the  shop,  which  the  latter  turned  down 
through  his  manager. 

"  Honus  had,  however,  done  so  well  in  negotiating 
his  two  bags  by  this  time  that  he  hurried  home  to 
look  for  more  bargains. 

14  When  Mellen  drove  the  next  one  down  the  lane 
Arthur  hitched  a  fly  kid  on  to  his  wagon  and  he 
gave  it  a  long  ride  to  Warcford." 

There  was  a  fellow  sitting  some  distance  away  who 
had  on  a  sailor  suit  and  Tim  asked  him  who  he  was. 
"  I'm  Sam  Lane,  of  Man  of  Wai's  Man,  and  I'm 

278 


HAL-HONUSED 

telling  the  boys  about  the  game  in  the  style  they 
like. 

"  In  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  Miner  sent  one  up 
through  the  outside  passage  after  it  was  two  and 
three  and  the  Harbor  Master  gave  The  Laird  clear- 
ance papers  for  the  next  port  of  call.  The  Laird 
then  turned  pirate  and  started  to  run  wild  on  the 
high  seas  with  the  patrol  ship  Gibbie  in  hot  pursuit 
when  the  Pirate  Brig  Beach  made  a  sortie  under  short 
bunting  and  the  fight  was  centered  on  the  Beach  while 
The  Laird  entered  a  cove  at  Delvin's  Island. 

"  Captain  Church,  of  the  Pirate  League,  then  set 
all  sails  and  primed  the  guns  to  squeeze  the  enemy, 
while  The  Laird  made  a  dash  for  the  home  shelter, 
but  he  miss — fired  and  The  Laird  went  to  the  Gibbie 
as  a  prize. 

"  Captain  Church  then  made  an  effort  to  rescue 
himself  by  jumping  with  a  lifesaver,  but  the  latter 
floated  toward  Delvin's  Island  while  the  tide  carried 
the  captain  toward  Caseville,  and  Hal  got  him  out 
with  a  jerk. 

"  Gibbie  came  alongside  and  launched  a  screamer 
to  the  side  one  should  always  pass  on.  Miner  laid 
himself  on  the  altar  and  Gibbie  jumped  to  the  second 
landing." 

Just  as  Tim  was  going  back  to  his  seat  he  heard 
Norman  Rhodes,  of  the  Churchman,  clicking  it  off 
like  this. 

'  The  Human  Crab  then  offered  his  mite,  but  it 
was  tainted  money  that  dropped  into  Roger's  contri- 
bution box." 

279 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

And  farther  along  he  caught  the  reporter  for 
Janitors'  Hints  sending  this. 

"  Captain  Larke  pushed  a  vacuum  cleaner  to  La 
Joy  which  picked  up  dust  all  the  way  and  reached 
first  when  Larry  couldn't  stop  the  motor  and  Gibbie 
was  beating  the  rug  at  the  near  station." 

Tim    then    asked    Van    Lent,    of    the    National 
Detective,   how  he   liked  the   game   and  the  latter 
handed  him  his  report  of  the  next  half  inning  saying, 
1  You  can  see  what  I  am  saying  about  it." 

"  Larke  wirelessed  Gibbie  the  code  word  for  the 
double  pilfer  and  although  Pinkerton  Roger  received 
the  message  too  he  was  afraid  to  leave  the  home 
station  without  an  operator  and  couldn't  prevent  the 
captain  from  committing  the  crime. 

"  Mellen  pinned  four  stripes  to  Talkington's 
batting  suit,  filling  all  the  cells,  and  then  Robb  tried 
to  arrange  a  get  away  for  the  bunch  by  a  break- 
away over  the  center  fence  but  the  Chief  Hawkeye 
of  the  Jefferson  outer  guard  stone-walled  it  and  the 
prisoners  were  all  sent  to  the  yard." 

S.  C.  Rice,  of  the  Bakers'  and  Confectioners' 
Daily  was  kneading  his  report  of  the  game  into  shape 
so  that  his  folks  could  see  it  and  he  was  going  along 
like  this. 

"  Hollins,  who  was  the  first  to  stir  the  batter  in 
the  sixth,  hoisted  a  wad  of  dough  to  Ty  whose  fingers 
were  buttered,  however,  and  Eddie  was  presented 
with  the  first  bun. 

"  It  tasted  like  more  and  Eddie  reached  through 
the  kitchen  window  and  stole  the  second. 

280 


HAL-HONUSED 

"  Larry  loafed  around  the  office  door  and  they 
gave  him  a  pass  to  the  free  lunch  counter.  Warcford 
started  one  toward  China  which  Hal  dug  out  of 
the  turf,  and  snow  balled  to  Arthur,  who  congealed 
to  it  in  time  to  put  Hollins  on  ice." 

Passing  back  to  his  regular  seat  Tim  heard  the 
operator  for  English  Society  who  happened  to  be 
Buckingham  Roseberry  wiring  this  to  his  sheet. 

"  Twitchell  jolted  a  bounder  to  Childe  Harold 
who  diverted  it  to  Hans,  eliminating  Warcford  and 
then  returned  to  his  doorstep  in  time  to  put  the  *  not- 
at-home  '  sign  out  before  Martin  called,  when  Hans 
handed  it  to  him." 

The  readers  of  Ivory  Ball  Review  were  going  to 
be  entertained  the  next  day  by  a  description  of  the 
contest,  which  ran  something  like  the  following,  from 
Hugh  Fullers  their  correspondent. 

"  Hans  miscued  twice  and  then  made  a  two  cushion 
shot  into  the  second  pocket.  Delvin  attempted  a 
follow  through  on  a  shot  to  the  right  corner,  but 
was  kissed  off  by  Church.  Gibbie  tried  a  long  draw 
past  the  middle  pocket  but  was  froze,  Mellen  to 
Church  and  all  he  got  was,  *  You  ought  to  have 
had  it/  " 

While  Ernest  Banigan,  of  the  Daily  Provision 
Market,  was  crowding  the  telegraph  lines  with  the 
following  rehash,  although  Tim  thought  that  in  the 
last  part  of  the  report  of  the  particular  play  noted 
Erny  was  getting  his  wires  crossed,  though  he  may 
have  been  reporting  for  Motor  and  The  Watch 
Tower  as  well. 

281 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

"  Brest  hit  the  hole  in  three  large  doughnuts  that 
Miner  passed  to  him  from  the  pretzel  station, 
Mellen's  barker  went  into  the  Hagner-Case  sausage 
factory.  Laird  hoisted  a  cuckoo  over  Delvin's  tower, 
which  Arthur  almost  caged  with  his  hands  over  his 
belfry  and  Harry  motored  to  first  but  had  his  tire 
punctured  by  Gibbie  and  Hans  between  the  first  and 
second  controls." 

Medil  Larder,  of  the  National  Butcher,  handed 
up  this  contribution  when  Tim  asked  for  a  sample 
of  his  style. 

"  Black,  the  first  to  show  his  willingness  in  the 
Lowell  half,  burned  one  at  Church,  who  assaulted 
it  for  a  knockout  with  a  side  swipe  from  Mellen. 

"  Everson  sneaked  one  to  Hollins  which  treated 
Eddie  like  the  pig  in  the  alley  did  the  bow-legged  man 
and  Johnny  ambled  to  the  first  feed  trough.  Larke 
chased  one  to  second  which  Larry  stabbed  and  Johnny 
was  slaughtered  at  the  midway  and  sent  to  the 
packing  house. 

"  Larke  jumped  into  the  chute  and  slid  all  the 
way  to  the  second  salt  bag. 

"  Talkington  sneaked  down  the  line  on  a  bunt 
which  caught  all  the  infield  pickets  napping  while 
the  captain  dusted  the  near  bag  with  his  sun 
shield. 

"  Robb's  fat  was  a  foul  that  went  into  Hollins' 
pan  and  the  inning  was  in  the  soup." 

And  Jacob  Morass,  of  the  Farm  Weekly  and  the 
Country  Banker  was  killing  two  birds  with  one  stone 
like  this. 

282 


HAL-HONUSED 

"  In  the  eighth  act  the  curtain  rose  with  Little 
Tommy  Beach  in  the  center  of  the  stage. 

;'  Tommy  hit  a  bender  on  the  wishbone  and  boosted 
it  to  the  middle  gate,  but  Talkington  hugged  it  for 
an  early  demise,  and  his  wishbone  was  where  his  back- 
bone ought  to  be. 


"  Church  winged  a  broiler  to  the  poultry  farm 
back  of  first  and  Case  wrung  its  neck.  Hollins 
pushed  a  fresh-laid  one  over  the  edge  of  the  plate 
which  Gibbie  scrambled  and  Eddie  reached  his  nest. 

"  Larry  knocked  four  over  the  barn  and  then 
straightened  the  kinks  in  the  next  one  which  went  for 
a  repeater  to  Tris  and  Eddie  wiped  his  feet  on  the 
*  welcome  '  mat  at  home. 

283 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

"  Sam,  the  Kansas  farmer,  dug  a  furrow  between 
Arthur  and  Hans  and  planted  himself  at  Caseburg 
while  Larry  drove  his  hack  all  the  way  to  the  barn 
on  the  dead  run." 

L.  Moore  Betts,  of  the  Commercial,  with  its  varied 
class  of  readers  tried  to  cover  all  the  trades  from  Wall 
Street  to  Bill  Boards  and  was  turning  out  page  after 
page  of  this  kind  of  stuff. 

'*  The  Certified  Accounts  made  their  report 
showing  the  large  surplus  of  two  for  Jefferson  and  it 
looked  like  bankruptcy  for  Lowell. 

"  Hughie  went  down  to  the  Curb  Market  and 
started  to  bid  up  prices. 

"  Hans  uncorked  a  popper  that  he  traded  for  a 
single  hassock. 

"  Hal  unbuckled  a  blue  domer  which  Warcford 
kittened  to  and  Hans  was  anchored. 

"  Arthur  unbridled  a  broncho  bucker  that  chortled 
down  between  Eddie  and  Laird  and  ran  to  Sam,  and 
Hans  pranced  down  to  the  midway.  Gibbie  expired 
on  three  fractures,  and  the  Candy  Kid  came  up  with 
his  box  of  sweets. 

;t  While  Mellen  was  smacking  his  lips  Hans  and 
Arthur  sneaked  behind  the  counter  and  touched  the 
ticket  box  for  a  ride  to  the  next  branch  stores,  but 
when  Huyler  tried  to  stamp  his  trade-mark  on  the 
billboards,  Twitchell  was  there  with  an  order  that 
canceled  his  permit." 

Rothe  Child,  of  The  American  Youth,  jumped 
from  tin  soldiers  to  airships  for  his  similies  and  Tim 
thought  that  a  half  inning  would  be  enough, 

284 


HAL-HONUSED 

"  The  Infant  Prodigy  was  now  sent  to  the  front 
to  propel  the  puzzlers. 

"  He  put  up  a  jig  saw  that  Twitchell  fitted 
together  and  made  a  bird  that  lit  in  right. 

"  Roger  danced  a  jig  at  the  plate  to  amuse  the 
Babe,  and  was  told  to  lead  the  march. 

"  Twitchell  and  Roger  advanced  farther  into  the 
enemy's  country  over  Mellen's  dead  body  and  Laird 
came  out  of  hiding. 

"  Harry  unlimbered  a  Zeppelin  Limited  that  had 
the  *  standing-room-only  '  sign  out  as  it  started  on  the 
air-line  track  toward  Honusburg.  Hans  set  the 
signals  against  it  and  then  climbed  into  the  empyrean 
blue  for  a  puncture  that  wrecked  the  airship,  and 
Twitchell  was  overcome  at  the  home  station  when 
Gibbie  told  him  the  news. 

"  Babe  was  sued  when  he  assaulted  young  Beach, 
and  the  jury  awarded  him  damages  to  the  extent  of 
one  free  ride,  and  there  was  a  rooster  on  every  perch 
in  the  coop." 

Sol  Singer,  of  the  Volunteer  Fireman,  heard  what 
Tim  was  doing  by  this  time  and  he  said,  "  How  do 
you  like  this." 

"  Things  were  as  exciting  as  a  *  Fighting-the- 
Flames '  show  at  Coney  Island  and  the  Lowell  boys 
had  offers  of  passes  for  '  A  trip  to  the  moon.' 

"  The  captain  of  the  Arson  Band  sneaked  forward 
to  light  the  fuse  and  start  the  conflagration  while 
his  pals  hauled  down  the  champions'  flag  and  as  the 
infant  burned  the  third  one  over  the  Captain  fired  a 
dynamite  bomb  over  Delvin  Square  to  set  fire  to  the 

285 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

city,  and  the  robbers  got  busy.  Little  Arthur, 
however,  guarding  his  station,  was  prepared  to  die 
a  patriot  and  although  he  had  to  handle  it  with 
gloves  he  knocked  it  down  and  quickly  turned  in 
the  alarm  calling  out  all  reserves. 

"  He  then  proceeded  calmly  to  throw  the  thing 
out  of  the  lot,  but  missed,  and  it  was  headed  for  the 
top  floor  of  the  Lowell  Hall  of  Heroes  which  it 
would  have  destroyed  had  not  Hal  got  out  his  scaling 
ladder  and  grabbed  it  as  it  was  going  through  and  the 
Arson  crew  was  sent  away  when  Hal  came  down  with 
the  evidence." 

By  this,  however,  Tim  thought  it  was  time  to  put 
a  little  of  himself  in  to  the  report,  and  he  contributed 
the  last  half  of  the  ninth  himself. 

"  Then  it  was  up  to  the  Dr.  Lawrence's  Willing 
Workers  to  beat  it  to  the  woods  and  not  come  back 
empty-handed  if  they  wanted  any  supper  that  night, 
with  little  brother  Hughie  tugging  at  the  apron 
strings  telling  how  hungry  he  was. 

'  Johnny  was  the  first  to  shoulder  his  gun  and 
walked  down  the  lane  boldly  with  his  chin  in  the 
air,  promising  to  come  back  with  one  bag  full  at  least. 

"  He  saw  game,  too,  but  after  pulling  the  trigger 
three  times  discovered  his  gun  wasn't  loaded  and 
came  back  for  ammunition,  but  was  sent  to  bed 
without  partaking  of  the  feast. 

"  Larke  started  out  with  his  double-barrel  shot- 
gun all  loaded  and  primed  and  saw  tracks  immedi- 
ately, but  as  luck  would  have  it  when  he  followed 
them  over  behind  La  Joy's  barn  old  man  Larry 

286 


HAL-HONUSED 

grabbed  him  and  chased  him  out  of  the  lot  through 
the  first  gate. 

"  Tris  stirred  up  three  crows  and  a  couple  of 
whistlers  as  soon  as  he  got  to  the  shooting  grounds. 
The  crows  were  too  far  away,  however,  and  the 
whistlers  were  too  fast  for  good  shooting,  so  he 
waited.  Tris  became  discouraged  when  the  next  was 
a  crow  which  landed  on  the  ground  in  front  of  him 
and  the  game  warden  told  him  they  were  running 
better  down  by  the  first  turn. 

"  Ty  walked  to  the  firing  line  with  just  one  bullet 
in  his  rifle  with  which  he  winged  a  bird  that  dropped 
in  right  field,  Ty  going  to  the  first  trap  while  Tris 
ran  to  the  third,  with  Laird  and  Twitchell  trying  to 
put  salt  on  his  tail.  Ty  then  grabbed  Larry's  bag 
and  he  had  two. 

"  Hans  was  sent  out  to  bring  in  the  game,  and 
Mellen,  who  was  operating  the  trap,  was  ordered  to 
serve  four  of  the  closed  season  kind  and  chase  him 
to  the  duck  pond. 

"  The  first  was  a  ladybird  far  out  to  the  right, 
the  next  was  a  mud  hen  that  hugged  the  ground,  the 
third  was  a  waxwing  far  out  of  Hans'  reach.  The 
fourth  was  a  moth  ball  intended  to  lay  Hans  away 
for  good;  but  he  made  one  of  his  muscle-racking 
lunges,  and  hitting  that  moth  ball  on  the  solar  plexus, 
released  a  humming  bird  that  darted  where  the 
nightingale  warbles  its  lay  and  the  glowworm 
glimmers,  while  Hans  snatched  four  full  bags  and 
almost  beat  Tris  and  Ty  to  the  supper  table,  and  the 
suspense  was  ended." 

287 


CHAPTER    XXVII 

AWARDING  THE   PRIZES 

IT  would  be  impossible  to  describe  in  words  the 
reception  which  the  team  received  upon  its  return  to 
Lowell  after  this  memorable  game  at  the  Polo 
Grounds.  Of  receptions,  there  had  been  plenty  to 
victorious  teams  at  Lowell,  but  all  those  that  had 
gone  before  could  not  compare  in  any  way  with  the 
glorious  welcome  that  was  given  the  team  of  19 — . 

Commencement  was  still  a  few  days  off,  but  the 
season  was  over  and  it  was  time  to  put  away  the 
ball,  bat,  and  glove,  so  far  as  real  games  were 
concerned.  Very  soon  commencement  day  would 
arrive  and  that  day  would  see  the  departure  from 
school  of  some  of  the  greatest  players  the  college 
world  has  ever  known. 

The  evening  before  commencement  the  scholar- 
ship prize  winners  were  announced  by  the  Intercol- 
legiate Athletic  Association.  There  were  hardly  any 
surprises  on  this  score,  for  it  was  apparent  even  before 
the  games  with  Jefferson,  to  the  few  who  had  seen 
the  two  teams  play,  that  Lowell  would  again  carry 
off  the  prizes. 

The  wonderful  showing  made  by  Case,  Hagner, 
Radams,  and  Robb  during  almost  the  entire  season, 

288 


AWARDING    THE   PRIZES 

put  them  so  far  ahead  of  all  competitors  that  there 
could  be  but  one  result. 

Hans,  of  course,  standing  head  and  shoulders 
above  all  of  them  in  the  records,  carried  off  the  prize 
as  the  best  all-round  man.  Hagner  was,  next  to 
Hal,  the  happiest  man  in  school.  No  more  selling 


books  for  him.  His  college  course  was  assured. 
Furthermore,  he  received  an  invitation  from  the 
Pirates  to  join  them  at  the  end  of  his  course  at  a 
salary  which  was  so  tempting  that  right  then  he 
signed  a  contract  to  begin  as  soon  as  he  graduated, 
or  before,  if  he  chose. 

Case  also  need  not  worry  in  future  about  his  college 
289 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

expenses.  All  tuition  and  five  hundred  dollars  per 
year  during  his  college  course  was  a  wonderful  thing 
for  him,  he  thought;  but  when  the  manager  of  the 
Highlanders  came  along  and  offered  him  five  thous- 
and dollars  a  year  to  play  with  them  after  he  was 
graduated  he  could  hardly  contain  himself. 

Radams  was  the  winning  pitcher,  according  to  the 
records,  and  after  considering  a  lot  of  offers  he  agreed 
to  play  with  the  Pittsburg  Pirates,  upon  leaving 
school,  if  at  all,  because  Larke  and  Gibbs  had  wanted 
him  to. 

Robb  drew  the  other  scholarship  prize  and  there 
was  a  great  scramble  among  the  professionals  to 
induce  this  heavy  hitting  outfielder  to  come  with 
them.  Jenkins,  however,  took  Robb  aside  and  told 
him  quietly  that  instead  of  practicing  law  right  away, 
he  was  going  to  play  professional  ball  for  a  few 
years,  that  he  had  received  such  a  tempting  offer 
from  the  Tigers  to  manage  their  club  that  he  could 
make  more  out  of  it  than  out  of  the  law,  and  that 
professional  baseball  had  been  put  on  such  a  high 
plane  in  the  last  few  years  that  it  was  as  good  a 
profession  as  any.  He  got  Robb  to  agree  to  play 
ball  with  the  Tigers,  if  he  played  on  any  professional 
team  in  the  future. 

Talkington  fell  a  victim  to  the  wiles  of  a  Red 
Sox  scout,  so  far  as  his  promises  were  concerned,  and 
agreed  to  join  them  as  soon  as  he  was  grad- 
uated. 

Several  of  the  graduating  players  thought  as 
Jenkins,  and  could  not  resist  the  tempting  offers  of 

290 


AWARDING    THE    PRIZES 

large  sums  to  join  the  big  leagues  and  play  ball 
for  a  living  for  a  while. 

Larke  and  Gibbs,  as  stated  before,  joined  the 
Pittsburg  Pirates.  Larke  as  manager,  and  that's  how 
Radams  came  to  show  up  there  later. 

Everson  said  he  was  going  into  the  shoe  business 
in  New  York  State,  and  he  did ;  but  he  couldn't  resist 
the  temptation  offered  him  by  the  Cubs  and  for  many 
years  played  a  rattling  game  at  second  base  for  them, 
and  made  a  lot  of  money  in  this  way.  When  he  got 
there  he  was  much  surprised  to  find  Miner  Black 
pitching  for  them. 

Delvin  was  signed  by  the  famous  New  York 
Giants  and  for  years  was  the  premier  third  baseman 
of  the  country. 

And  as  these  alumni  boys  traveled  over  the  country 
entertaining  thousands  by  the  display  of  their  ability 
in  the  national  sport  they  ran  across  most  of  the 
Jefferson  team  of  their  college  days. 

Frank  Church  became  captain-manager  of  the 
Cubs  where  Everson  and  Black  played  and  of  course 
they  had  to  talk  over  the  great  college  games  of 
19 —  again. 

Twitchell  was  showing  the  fans  down  in  Cincinnati 
how  to  play  right  field. 

La  Joy  turned  up  as  manager  and  second  baseman 
of  the  Naps  of  Cleveland. 

Sam  Warcford  and  George  Mellen  found  old  foes 
and  made  new  friends  when  they  met  Jenkins  and 
Robb  on  the  Tigers,  and  you  would  have  seen  the 
surprise  of  your  life  if  you  had  been  present  when 

291 


WON   IN   THE   NINTH 

Howard  Cam  and  Tommy  Beach  hunted  up  the 
manager  of  the  Pirates  and  found  it  was  former 
Captain  Larke  of  Lowell. 

Roger  Brest,  it  was  learned,  was  trying  his  hand 
at  managing  the  Cardinals  of  St.  Louis,  while  Rollins 
landed  with  the  Athletics  of  Philadelphia,  and  Harry 
Laird  went  with  the  Red  Sox  of  Boston. 

And  so,  boys,  you  who  read  this  have  read  the  story 
of  the  two  greatest  baseball  teams  ever  known  and 
seen  how  most  of  them  learned  their  baseball ;  and  you 
who  live  in  the  big  league  cities,  if  you  want  to  see 
some  of  these  boys  play,  you  can  do  so  almost  any 
day  from  April  to  October.  These  fellows  are  just 
as  much  the  heroes  of  the  game  to-day  as  they  were 
at  Lowell.  They  like  to  play  the  game  for  the  fun 
there  is  in  it  as  much  as  the  profit.  They  like  it  for 
its  thrilling  situations  and  its  excitement.  They  love 
to  see  the  big  crowds  and  when  the  stands  are  filled 
and  they  have  to  let  the  crowd  out  on  the  field  they 
play  their  best  and  they  all  are  just  as  anxious  to 
win  every  game,  as  they  were  back  in  those  good  old 
days  at  Lowell. 


292 


CHAPTER    XXVIII 

SATO   WRITES    HOME 

SATO,  the  only  member  of  the  Jap  nation  at  the 
university  that  year  had  not  attended  any  of  the 
games  at  Lowell  up  to  this  time,  but  the  excitement 
around  the  school  caused  him  to  follow  the  crowd  one 
day,  and  afterwards  he  wrote  home  to  Prince  Igo, 
his  father,  his  impressions  of  the  great  National  Game 
as  follows: 

"  Baseballing  is  great  college  sport  presently.  I 
walk  to-day  much  distance  to  where  town  ceases  and 
come  against  high  board  fences;  also  law  guardian, 
from  which  issue  big  noises  frequent.  Then  silence 
great.  Soon  of  each  more.  I  ask  law  guardian  why 
such  yells. 

"  He  reply,  '  It  is  the  fans.  Man  came  home.' 
Am  now  desirous  also  to  welcome  traveler's  home 
coming. 

1  Away  long  time  has  gentlemen  been  ?  '     In  in- 
terrogate. 

"  He  answer,  '  Been  long  time  since  he  came  home 
before.' 

'  Then  I  approach  said  gates  of  welcoming  and 
enter  one  saying  grand  stand,  giving  printed  paste- 
board to  much  red-faced  man  at  door. 

"  He  destroy  said  printing  and  present  to  me  one- 
293 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

half;  the  other  he  keep.  On  honorable  pasteboard 
is  printed  '  rain  check  '  and  I  presently  comprehend 
thus  the  stopping  rain  in  great  United  States  when 
baseballing  is  to  happen. 

"  I    proceed    along    walkboard    continuous    until 
emerging  into  great  pavilion  where  persons  numerous 


are  all  sitting  in  seats  many,  but  I  see  not  the  fans 
law  guardian  promised,  though  it  is  day  warm  very. 
Presently  spectators  make  grand  stand  shouting  the 
Big  Banzai  as  honorables  in  white  suits  run  very  hard. 
*  What  is  it  ?  '  I  remark  to  enormous  German 
intelligence  on  left. 

"  '  Another  man  home,'  he  correspond. 
294 


SATO    WRITES    HOME 

"  I  am  much  enthusiasm  also.  It  is  more  august 
noise  than  Russian  surrendering. 

41  Presently,  Mr.  Gray  Pitch  lift  strong  arm 
holding  white  ball  of  much  hardness  high.  Another 
Gray  Mr.,  the  Hon.  Catch,  has  responsibility  for 
all  balls  Mr.  Pitch  shoot  and  he  try  to  stop  all.  The 
ball  shoots  with  swiftness  great  so  Mr.  Catch  wear 
large  cushions  on  hands,  also  bird  cage  on  face,  with 
boards  in  front  of  legs.  Third  Mr.  what  they  call 
Bat  is  positioned  in  front  Mr.  Catch  to  make 
impossible  said  stopping  by  hitting  ball. 

"  Of  a  suddenness  Mr.  Gray  Pitch  preparation 
himself  for  enjoyable  spasm.  Ball  holding  high,  he 
make  large  twistings,  himself  turn  half  way,  leg 
raises  and  quickly  shoots  little  ball  straight  at  Mr. 
Catch's  head.  Hon.  Bat  makes  large  effort  vainly. 

"  '  Strike  one/  gleefully  announces  Hon.  Empire 
in  loud  voice. 

"  Again  Mr.  Pitch  make  necessary,  twists 
preparation  to  his  shoot.  Mr.  Bat  fail  making 
attempt  but  Hon.  Empire  cries  agonizing,  '  Struck 
two,7  at  which  thin  Irish  spectacles  on  right  speaking 
violently  remark,  *  Robber  1  Thief !  Kill  the 
Empire !  * 

"  I  look  expectant  to  witness  demise  of  Hon. 
Empire,  but  it  happens  not  immediate.  Much 
disappoint  I  feel,  having  extreme  good  sitting  for 
witness  such  scenes.  Then,  think  perhaps  it  later  will 
occurrence  when  dark. 

"  Once  more  Mr.  Gray  Pitch  causing  ball  shoot 
fast.  But  Mr.  Bat  watching  very  close.  He  make 

295 


WON    IN    THE    NINTH 

great  smash  with  large  stick  against  middle  of  small 
ball  and  at  once  change  name  to  Mr.  Run,  making 
great  haste  leaving  home  for  first  white  cushion. 
Then  turn,  with  much  glee,  from  all  standers  up,  on 
left  side  and  hasten  quick  after  direction  ball  went 
toward  number  two  cushion.  Mr.  Gray  Field  now 
pick  up  ball  quick  and  throw  at  Mr.  Run. 

"  All  grand  standers  now  project  loud  shoutings 
of  *  Make  slidings,  Mr.  Run.  Make  big  slidings,  Oh 
run,'  and  answeringly  Hon.  Run  sliding  on  his 
stomach  to  No.  Two  cushion,  but  Hon.  Empire  wave 
his  hand  and  say  quickly,  '  Out '  and  Hon.  Run  then 
walk  with  much  slowness  and  mutterings  of  words  to 
waterpail  and  drink. 

"  Presently  when  Hon.  White  Suits  are  much 
weary  from  hittings  and  slidings  they  exchanging 
places  with  Hon.  Gray  Suits  and  Gray  Suits  play 
Mr.  Bat. 

"  The  Mr.  White  Pitch  try  to  make  great  original 
twistings  and  shoots.  Mr.  Gray  Bat  finds  hitting 
impossible  and  Hon.  Empire  says,  *  Struck  three, 
out.'  But  now  the  Hon.  Irish  on  right  do  not  cry 
1  Robber !  Kill  him !  '  Himself  and  all  others  sur- 
rounding make  more  standings  and  cheer  Mr.  White 
Pitch  magnitudinous  and  say,  *  Oh,  you  pitch !  ' 

"  After  more  twistings  by  White  Pitch,  Mr.  Next 
Bat  walk  leisure  to  one  cushion.  Mr.  Third  Bat 
likewise. 

"  Suddenly  boy  diminutive  with  large  voice  in  front 
say,  '  Get  the  hook '  and  then  Mr.  White  Pitch  drop 
was  white  ball  and  retire  and  I  wait  for  him  return 

296 


SATO   WRITES   HOME 

with  hook,  but  I  am  distracted  otherwise,  seeing 
bigger  White  Pitch  proceed  and  pick  up  ball.  Then 
still  more  different  twists  by  Mr.  Bigger  White  Pitch 
and  swift  shoots.  Supreme  big  effort  by  Mr.  Gray 
Bat  and  loud  crack. 

"  '  Fowl,'  say  Empire  and  three  runnings  of  white 
suits.  I  arise  to  look  at  white  suits  chasing  fowl, 
but  impossible  to  see  account  front  rows  standing  on 
seats.  Next  yellings,  '  He's  got  it,'  and  sitting  down 
of  all,  and  I  see  Mr.  Big  Pitch  holding  ball  upraised, 
but  no  chicken.  I  think  they  catching  fowl  outside 
for  big  dinner  to  homecomers. 

"  Now  Mr.  Second  Bat  run  quickly  to  three 
cushion  and  Mr.  Now  Bat  propel  ball  with  stick  very 
far;  but  Mr.  White  Field  catch  quick  and  throw  to 
Hon.  Catch  while  Mr.  Three  Cushion  occupant 
running  home. 

"  '  Safe,'  say  Hon.  Empire  at  which  all  bystanders 
yell  angrily,  '  Robber !  Thief !  Hang  him !  '  I 
climb  nearby  post  to  witness  national  mode  of  death 
and  see  all  white  suits  surrounding  Hon.  Empire, 
but  no  rope. 

"  Presently  all  walk  away  and  again  I  am 
disappoint,  having  much  finer  location  for  view  such 
interesting  proceedings. 

"  Then  more  of  same  twistings  and  runnings  by 
both  white  suits  and  gray  suits  exchanging  places 
until  dark,  when  grand  standings  make  big  runnings 
to  outside. 

"  I  wait  much  patiently  to  see  Hon.  Empire  get 
hangings  now  but  presently  Mr.  August  Watch  come 

297 


WON    IN   THE    NINTH 

by  and  say,  l  G'wan,  game's  over,'  with  many 
pointings  to  outside  and  I  consider  possible  I  find 
Hon.  Empire  and  all  white  suits  over  fence  making 
big  killings,  so  I  exit  myself  through  glee  gates  back- 
ward where  I  find  only  majestic  stillness. 
"  So  I  return  to  domicile." 


THE   END 


298 


WON  IN  THE  NINTH 

A   BASEBALL   STORY 

By    CHRISTOPHER    MATHEWSON 

The  Famous  Pitcher  of  the  New  York  Giants.  The  first  of  a  series  of  Boys' 
Stories  on  Sports  to  be  known  as  the  MATTY  BOOKS,  by  Christopher 
Mathewson  and  W.  W.  Aulick,  the  well-known  sporting  writer,  who  will  also 
act  as  editor  of  the  series. 

IT  is  a  college  story  about  baseball.  The  hero  is  a  fine  young 
fellow  whom  many  fans  will  at  once  think  they  recognize  as 
a  popular  player.  He  enters  a  big  Eastern  University  from 
the  far  West,  gets  on  the  Varsity  after  many  trying  experiences,  as 
extra  pitcher,  but  by  accident  one  day  it  develops  his  natural 
position  is  as  fielder  and  he  becomes  a.  star  and  wins  a  scholarship, 
which  insures  his  education. 

Throughout  the  story  the  author  describes  thrilling  moments  of 
actual  games,  some  wonderful  catches,  and  gives  many  stories,  some 
of  them  humorous,  of  famous  players  and  games. 

He  also  reveals  someofthe  secrets  of  "inside  baseball,*'  "signals," 
etc.,  and  in  a  supplement,  illustrations  and  descriptions  of  the  way  he 
holds  and  delivers  his  famous  Fade-away  and  other  deceptive  curves. 

The  description  and  playing  characteristics  of  many  of  the  hero's 
team-mates  remind  one  of  famous  players  of  the  present  day.  The 
author  has  placed  in  one  college  boys  who  from  their  ball-playing 
ability  might  easily  be  taken  to  represent  his  selection  of  a  first  ALL- 
AMERICAN  TEAM  and  in  a  rival  college  the  boys  whom  he 
might  pick  for  ALL-AMERICAN  TEAM  No.  2.  The  games 
played  might  also  be  taken  to  represent  his  idea  of  what  would  . 
occur  in  a  series  between  two  such  teams.  Mathewson' s  position 
in  the  game  and  his  knowledge  of  the  players  fit  him  especially  for 
this,  and  the  book  should  be  read  eagerly  by  players  and  fans. 

PRESS  COMMENTS 

The  greatest  baseball  story  ever  written. — New  York  World. 
A  mighty  good  story  of  college  life  runs  through  the  book. — Pittsburg  Dispatch. 
Every  fan  should  read  it. — Denver  Pott. 
A  book  which  every  boy  from  eight  to  eighty  should  read. — Boston  Globe. 

JO2  Pages,  I2mo.       Cloth.        Illustrated.        Price,  Net,  $1.00 

R.  J.  BODMER  COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS 

437  FIFTH  AVENUE,   NEW  YORK 

SALES  AGENTS  :  NEW  YORK  BOOK  COMPANY 
147  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York 


To  THE  READER 

The  next  in  the  series  of  MATTY  BOOKS 
will  be  a  Football  Story  by  the  same  author. 
Matty  was,  during  his  college  days,  as  great  a 
football  player  as  he  is  a  pitcher  to-day. 

If  you  will  fill  out  this  blank  and  mail  to 
us,  we  will  give  you  advance  notice  of  the 
date  of  publication  of  the  football  story. 

R.  J.  BODMER  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 
437  FIFTH  AVENUE  NEW  YORK 


NAME. 


STREET   NUMBER. 
CITY 


THE    FADE-AWAY 

AND 

OTHER    DECEPTIVE    CURVES 

AS    HELD,  AND    DELIVERED    BY 

CHRISTY    MATHEWSON 


ILLUSTRATIONS    BY   COURTESY   OF 

AMERICAN    SPORTS    PUBLISHING    CO. 

FROM    "HOW   TO   PLAY   BASEBALL" 


HOW  BALL  IS  GRASPED   FOR  START  OF  THE   "FADE  AWAY.' 


THE  BALL  LEAVING  THE  HAND  AS  IT  GETS  THE  FINAL  TWIST 
OF  THE  WRIST  FOR  THE   "FADE  AWAYt" 


The  out-curve  is  produced  usually  by  grasping  the  ball  with  the  first 
two  fingers  and  the  thumb,  with  the  back  of  the  hand  turned 
downward.  The  fingers  are  pressed  firmly  against  the  ball,  which 
is  gripped  tight.  The  out-curve  may  be  either  fast  or  slow. 


The  in-curve  is  pitched  with  a  side-arm  motion,  the  ball  being  released 
over  the  tips  of  the  first  two  fingers,  the  arm  being  swept  around 
with  a  lateral  motion.  Some  pitchers  throw  an  in-curve  by  grasping 
the  ball  with  all  four  fingers  and  permitting  it  to  slip  over  the  tips. 


PS  3525 


I 


